A special CIA task force assembled in the days after Hamas' attack on Israel continues to collect intelligence on the whereabouts of senior members of the terrorist group and is providing that to Israel, The New York Times reported Friday.
The group, created at the behest of White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, also gathers information on the location of the remaining hostages, too, according to the Times.
It's not clear who comprises the task force, but Sullivan sent the memo to intelligence agencies and the Defense Department, according to the report.
The group is focused on senior Hamas leadership only, eschewing intel on low- to mid-level operatives, the Times reported. It's also unclear how valuable the information has been.
The U.S. was not behind the intel that led to the death of deputy Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut, the Times reported. Israel has not publicly taken credit for the death of the most senior Hamas leader so far, likely because it was carried out in Lebanon.
However, the chief of Israel's Mossad intelligence service pledged last week that the agency will hunt down every Hamas operative no matter how long it takes. David Barnea said Mossad, as it did in the aftermath of the 1972 murders at the Olympics in Munich, will settle accounts with "planners and envoys" and every terrorist "directly or indirectly" involved in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.
"It'll take time, as it took time after the Munich massacre; but we will put our hands on them, wherever they are," Barnea said.
One such high-profile target, Yahya Sinwar, the architect of the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, is believed to be hiding in Hamas tunnels underneath Khan Younis in southern Gaza, embedding himself with the remaining 130 or so hostages for the purpose of human shields, according to the Times.
The U.S. freed up more funding to hunt Hamas after the Office of the Director of National Intelligence raised the terrorist group to Level 2 priority in the days after the attacks from Level 4 before Oct. 7, according to the Times.
The U.S. has stepped up efforts to collect intel through the use of drones over Gaza, intercepting communications of Hamas and development of human sources, according to the Times.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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