The following is a list of alleged and confirmed assassinations reported to have been conducted by the State of Israel. It includes attempts against individuals who were reportedly (or confirmed to have been) specifically targeted by various Israeli security, intelligence and law enforcement agencies, including the Israel Defense Forces and the Mossad.
When carrying out targeted assassinations, the Israeli government refers to these operations as “eliminations”. Individuals who are killed in such operations are described as having been “eliminated”, using the term “Husal” (, ).
These operations have often been described by Israeli officials as preventive or counterterrorism measures, while these measures have been criticized by critics of the Israeli government's actions, particularly when conducted outside Israel’s borders or in areas of ongoing conflict.
1950s DatePlaceCountryTargetDescriptionActionKillerJuly 11, 1956Gaza StripCol. Mustafa HafezEgyptian military official who organized Palestinian fedayeen raids from Gaza into IsraelParcel bombBurns, Lieutenant-General E.L.M. (1962) Between Arab and Israeli. George G. Harrap. Page 164Israel Defense Forces operation directed by Yehoshafat Harkabi.July 14, 1956AmmanLt. Col. Salah MustafaEgyptian Military attache in Amman, organized fedayeen raids from Jordan into Israel
1960s DatePlaceCountryTargetDescriptionActionKillerSeptember 11, 1962MunichHeinz KrugWest German rocket scientist working for Egypt's missile programAbducted from his company offices on Munich's Schillerstrasse, his body was never found. Swiss police later arrested two Mossad agents for threatening the daughter of another scientist and found that they were responsible for the killing. Part of Operation Damocles.MossadValdis O. Lumans, Latvia in World War II, Fordham University Press, 2006 p.240.'probably the victim of an Israeli Mossad agent.'Josifs Šteimanis, History of Latvian Jews, East European Monographs 2002.Anton Künzle, Gad Shimron, The Execution of the Hangman of Riga: The Only Execution of a Nazi War Criminal by the Mossad, Vallentine Mitchell, 2004.November 28, 1962Heluan5 Egyptian factory workersWorkers employed at Factory 333, an Egyptian rocket factory.Letter bomb sent bearing Hamburg post mark. Another such bomb disfigured and blinded a secretary. Part of Operation Damocles.February 23, 1965MontevideoHerberts CukursAviator who had been involved in the murders of Latvian Jews during the HolocaustBernhard Press, The Murder of the Jews in Latvia: 1941-1945, Northwestern University Press, 2000 p.103.'Cukurs tore an infant out of its mother's arms and smashed the baby's head against the curbstone. As the mother threw herself with a wild scream on the lifeless, bleeding body of her child, he riddled her head with a bullet from his revolver.'Lured to and killed in Montevideo by agents under the false pretense of starting an aviation business.
1970s DatePlaceCountryTargetDescriptionActionKillerJuly 8, 1972BeirutGhassan KanafaniPalestinian writer, political figure, editor-in-chief of Al-Hadaf, and spokesperson of the PFLP, who was assassinated in a car bombing in Beirut after the Lod Airport massacre.Ami Pedahzur, The Israeli Secret Services and the Struggle Against Terrorism, Columbia University Press, 2009 pp.39-40.Killed by car bomb along with his 17-year-old niece Lamees.MossadMark Ensalaco, Middle Eastern Terrorism: From Black September to September 11, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011 p.37.Tony Geraghty, Black Ops: The Rise of Special Forces in the C.I.A., the S.A.S., and Mossad, Open Road Media/Pegasus Books, 2011 p.263:'probably by a two-man team from Mossad's Kidon hit team'.Matt Webster, Inside Israel's Mossad: The Institute for Intelligence and Special Tasks, Rosen Publishing Group, 2003 p.48.July 25, 1972Attempted killing of Bassam Abu SharifPopular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Information Office. He held a press conference with Ghassan Kanafani during the Dawson's Field hijackings justifying the PFLP's actions.He lost four fingers, and was left deaf in one ear and blind in one eye, after a book sent to him that was implanted with a bomb exploded in his hands.Palestinians' Way Forward Al Jazeera English, June 19, 2009October 16, 1972RomeAbdel Wael ZwaiterLibyan embassy employee, cousin of Yassir Arafat, PLO representative, poet and multilingual translator, considered by Israel to be a terrorist for his alleged role in the Black September group and the Munich massacre,Bar-Zohar, Michael & Eitan Haber. Massacre in Munich. The Lyons Press, 2005, p. 146 though Aaron Klein states that 'uncorroborated and improperly cross-referenced intelligence information tied him to a support group' for Black September.Anna Goppel, Killing Terrorists: A Moral and Legal Analysis, Walter de Gruyter, 2013 p.36.Shot 12 times by two Mossad gunmen as he waited for an elevator to his apartment near Piazza Avellino.December 8, 1972ParisMahmoud HamshariPLO representative in France and coordinator of the Munich Olympic Games massacre.Strategic intelligence, Volume 1 By Loch K. Johnson, p. 67Killed by bomb concealed in his telephone.January 24, 1973NicosiaHussein Al Bashir (a.k.a. Hussein Abu-Khair/Hussein Abad).Fatah representative in Nicosia, Cyprus and PLO liaison officer with the KGB.Killed by bomb in his hotel room bed.April 6, 1973ParisBasil Al KubaisiPFLP member and American University of Beirut Professor of International LawKilled on a street in Paris by two Mossad agents.April 9, 1973BeirutKamal AdwanBlack September commander and member of the Fatah central committeeThe terrorist list: A-K, By Edward Mickolus. p.28Killed in his apartment in front of his children during Operation Spring of Youth, either shot 55 times or killed with a grenade.Bob Simon, 'An Eye For An Eye,' CBS News, 20 November 2001.Kameel B. Nasr, Arab and Israeli Terrorism, McFarland 1997 p.71.Sayeret Matkal led by Ehud BarakMuhammad Youssef Al-NajjarBlack September Operations officer and PLO officialShot dead in his apartment together with his wife during Operation Spring of Youth.Sayeret Matkal together with Mossad.Kamal NasserPalestinian Christian poet, advocate of non-violence and PLO spokesmanShot dead in his apartment during Operation Spring of Youth. According to Palestinian sources his body was left as if hanging from a cross. A woman neighbour was shot dead when she opened her door during the operation.Sayeret MatkalApril 11, 1973AthensZaiad MuchasiFatah representative to CyprusKilled in hotel room.MossadBlake W. Mobley, Terrorism and Counterintelligence: How Terrorist Groups Elude Detection Terrorism and Counterintelligence: How Terrorist Groups Elude Detection], Columbia University Press, 2012, p. 91.Mark Ensalaco, Middle Eastern Terrorism: From Black September to September 11, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011 p.56.Anthony H. Cordesman, Peace and War: The Arab-Israeli Military Balance Enters the 21st Century, Greenwood Publishing 2002 p.324.June 28, 1973ParisMohammad BoudiaBlack September operations officerKilled by pressure-activated mine under his car seat.July 21, 1973LillehammerAttempted killing of Ali Hassan SalamehHigh-ranked leader in the PLO and Black September who was behind the 1972 Munich Olympic Games massacreAhmed Bouchiki, an innocent waiter believed to be Ali Hassan Salameh, killed by gunmen. Known as the Lillehammer affair.March 27, 1978East BerlinWadie HaddadPFLP commander, who masterminded several plane hijackings in the 1960s and 1970s.He apparently died of cancer in an East Berlin hospital, reportedly untraced by Mossad.Ephraim Kahana, 'Covert Action: The Israeli Experience,' in Loch K. Johnson (ed.), Strategic Intelligence, 2006, p. 67. Mossad never claimed responsibility. Aaron Klein states that Mossad passed on through a Palestinian contact a gift of chocolates laced with a slow poison, which effectively caused his death several months later.Poisoned Mossad chocolate killed PFLP leader in 1977, says book. Middle East Times. May 6, 2006January 22, 1979BeirutAli Hassan SalamehHigh-ranked leader in the PLO and Black September who was behind the 1972 Munich Olympic Games massacreKilled by a remote-controlled car bomb, along with four bodyguards and four innocent bystanders.
1980s DatePlaceCountryTargetDescriptionActionExecutorJune 13, 1980ParisYehia El-MashadEgyptian nuclear scientist, lecturer at Alexandria UniversityKilled in his room at the Méridien Hotel in Operation Sphinx.Ostrovsky, Victor, "By Way of Deception: The Making and Unmaking of a Mossad Officer", St. Martin's Press, New York, 1990, p. 23f. Marie-Claude Magal, prostitute, client of El-Meshad, pushed under a car and killed in the Boulevard Saint-Germain.MossadSeptember 1981São PauloJosé Alberto Albano do AmaranteA Brazilian Air Force lieutenant colonel, assassinated by the Israeli intelligence service to prevent Brazil from becoming a nuclear nation.A guerra letal em torno da energia atômica by Assis Ribeiro (2012)He was contaminated by radioactive material.José Alberto Albano do Amarante published by Associação dos Engenheiros do ITA (2016)Samuel Giliad or Guesten Zang, a Mossad agent, an Israeli born in Poland.Segredos brasileiros são bisbilhotados há décadas por outros países by Mario Chimanovitch, published by Folha de S. Paulo (2013)August 21, 1983AthensMamoun MeraishSenior PLO officialShot in his car from motorcycle.MossadJune 9, 1986Khalid NazzalSecretary of the DFLP (Democratic Front for Liberation of Palestine)Killed in Athens by Mossad agents who entered Greece with fake passports, shot Nazzal while leaving his hotel, and fled the country.MossadOctober 21, 1986Munther Abu GhazalehHigh-ranked leader in the PLO. Senior member of the National Palestinian Council, the Revolutionary Council of Al Fatah and the Supreme Military Council of the Revolutionary Palestinian Forces.Killed by a car bombMossadApril 16, 1988TunisAbu JihadSecond-in-command to Yassir ArafatShot dead in front of his family in the Tunis Raid by Israeli commandos under the direction of Ehud Barak and Moshe Ya'alon, and condemned as a political assassination by the United States State Department.Philip Alston, UN: Report of the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions, United Nations A/HRC/14/24/Add.6, May 28, 2010.Daniel Byman, A High Price: The Triumphs and Failures of Israeli Counterterrorism, Oxford University Press, 2011 p.56.Israel Defense ForcesJuly 14, 1989AlexandriaSaid S. BedairEgyptian scientist in electrical, electronic and microwave engineering and a colonel in the Egyptian armyFell to his death from the balcony of his brother's apartment in Camp Chezar, Alexandria, Egypt. His veins were found cut and a gas leak was detected in the apartment. Arabic and Egyptian sources claim that the Mossad assassinated him in a way that appears as a suicide.?
1990s