Israel and Mossad (its external intelligence agency) have a long history of pursuing and eliminating those they hold responsible for attacks against Israelis. This spans from the post-Holocaust era, through Arab–Israeli wars, to recent Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthi, and IRGC figures. Here’s a concise breakdown of major Mossad/Israeli elimination campaigns against those accused of killing Israelis:
Post-WWII / Nazis
Adolf Eichmann — Architect of the Holocaust, captured in Argentina in 1960, tried and executed in Israel in 1962.
Herberts Cukurs — “Butcher of Riga,” assassinated by Mossad in Uruguay in 1965.
Palestinian Militants (1970s onward)
Munich Olympic Massacre (1972) → Operation Wrath of God: Mossad tracked and assassinated multiple Black September/Palestinian militants across Europe and the Middle East in the 1970s.
Ali Hassan Salameh — Chief of Black September, killed by car bomb in Beirut in 1979.
Hezbollah
Imad Mughniyeh — Hezbollah military commander behind numerous attacks on Israelis and Jews worldwide, assassinated by car bomb in Damascus in 2008 (widely attributed to Mossad with CIA assistance).
Multiple Hezbollah commanders in Lebanon and Syria eliminated by targeted strikes (see 2024–25 eliminations above).
Fouad Shukur (Fouad Shukur) — Top commander of Hezbollah, killed in Beirut on July 30, 2024.
Hassan Nasrallah — Hezbollah leader, killed in Beirut on September 27, 2024.
Nabil Kaouk — Deputy council head of Hezbollah, killed near Beirut on September 28, 2024.
Hashem Safieddine — Hezbollah’s new leader at the time, killed on October 3, 2024
Hamas
Decades of targeted killings against Hamas leaders tied to attacks on Israelis:
Ahmed Yassin — Hamas founder, killed in Gaza by airstrike (2004).
Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi — Hamas leader, killed by missile strike (2004).
Plus the recent 2024–25 wave: Mohammed Deif, Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh, Abu Obeida, etc.
Saleh al-Arouri — Deputy political head of Hamas, killed in Beirut on January 2, 2024.
Mohammed Deif — Commander of Hamas’s military wing, killed in Gaza on July 13, 2024.
Ismail Haniyeh — Hamas political chief, killed in Tehran on July 31, 2024
Yahya Sinwar — Hamas leader in Gaza, killed in Rafah on October 16, 2024 .
Mohammed Sinwar — Hamas commander and brother of Yahya, killed on May 13, 2025.
Marwan Issa — Deputy military commander of Hamas, killed by airstrike in Gaza on March 10, 2024 .
Abu Obeida — Hamas spokesperson, killed in Gaza on August 30, 2025 .
Sept 9, 2025 Doha — Israeli airstrike in Qatar killed six people, including Khalil al-Hayya’s son and aides; top Hamas leaders survived
Other Islamist Groups
Houthis
Ahmed al-Rahawi — Houthi prime minister, killed in Yemen on August 28, 2025.
Other Islamist Group (Iran’s IRGC)
General Hossein Salami — Head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, killed on June 13, 2025
- IRGC (Iran): Top commanders including Gen. Hossein Salami (2025) eliminated, reflecting Israel’s view that IRGC backs Hamas/Hezbollah actions against Israelis.