His blood be on his head
“The blood of the arch enemies on their own heads” – A review of targeted killings in 2024.
A billboard with images of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar (R), Ismail Haniyeh (L), and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah (C), all three of whom were killed by Israel.
A biblical expression that is still an appropriate in Israel’s present-day situation, and with which Israel publicly warns its arch-enemies: Whoever attacks us, his blood be upon his head. He will pay with his life.
“…if anyone hears the trumpet but does not heed the warning and the sword comes and takes their life, their blood will be on their own head.” (Ezekiel 33:4)
“And David said to him, ‘Your blood shall be on your own head, for your mouth has testified against you, saying, “I have killed the LORD’s anointed.”‘” (2 Samuel 1)
“If any of them go outside your house into the street, their blood will be on their own heads; we will not be responsible. As for those who are in the house with you, their blood will be on our head if a hand is laid on them.” (Joshua 2:19)
Echoing this biblical expression, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly stressed: “Our policy against terror is based on a simple principle. Whoever attacks us, whoever has attacked us, and whoever plans to attack us, his blood will be on his own head.” And so it was last year.
The year 2024 saw without a doubt the most qualitative and quantitative campaign of targeted killings that Israel has carried out, perhaps ever. The assassinations took place in various locations, including the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Syria, and Iran. Israel’s arch-enemies know better than ever that anyone who actively attacks and seeks to destroy Israel is doomed. Here is a list of Israel’s outstanding killings for 2024, in chronological order, the arch-enemies’ blood on their own heads:
- January 2, 2024: Saleh Al-Arouri –
deputy head of Hamas’s political bureau – is killed in an Israeli
attack in Beirut (the first attack in Beirut during the war).
- January 8: Wissam Al-Tawil, a senior commander of Hezbollah’s Radwan Unit, is killed in an attack on the village of Kharbat Salam in southern Lebanon. He is the first major Hezbollah leader killed by Israel in this war.
- March 9: Marwan Issa – deputy commander of Hamas’s military wing. He played a central role in negotiating the Gilad Shalit hostage release in 2011. He was killed in an Israeli attack on a target in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
- April 1: Mohammad Reza Zahedi – Iranian. Commander for Syria and Lebanon in the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Killed in a bold Israeli attack on a building next to the Iranian embassy in Damascus. This attack led to a massive Iranian retaliation against Israel with hundreds of missiles and drones. This attack changes the rules of the game with Iran, which saw it as an attack on its sovereignty (the territory of the Iranian embassy in Damascus).
- July 13: Mohammad Deif – Commander-in-chief of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. Killed along with Khan Yunis commander Rafe Salameh in an attack on the humanitarian area of Khan Yunis in the south of the Gaza Strip. About 100 Palestinians were killed in the attack. Deif had been one of the most wanted persons for decades, planned the October 7 massacre and was responsible for numerous suicide attacks in Israel in the 1990s.
- July 30: Fuad Shukr – Hezbollah’s top military commander and head of the organization’s strategic department. He was effectively Hezbollah’s chief of staff. Killed in an Israeli attack in the Dahieh neighborhood of Beirut in response to Hezbollah shelling that killed 12 children and teenagers in Majdal Shams (the second attack in Beirut).
- July 31: Ismail Haniyeh – Head of Hamas’s political bureau. Top of the Hamas pyramid. Killed along with his bodyguard by a bomb hidden in his room where they were attending the inauguration of elected Iranian President Masoud Peseschkian in northern Tehran.
- September 20: Ibrahim Akil – Head of Hezbollah’s operations department, de facto commander of the Radwan Unit and commander of the “plan to conquer Galilee.” After the killing of Fuad Shukr, he became the highest-ranking military figure in Hizballah (under Nasrallah). Killed in an attack in Dahieh, Beirut, during a meeting with senior commanders of the Radwan Unit.
- September 27: Hassan Nasrallah – Secretary General of Hezbollah. The strongest and most influential figure of the Shiite-Iranian axis. The man who carried the Axis on his back, he artfully led it through his undoubted oratorical skills – he was unmatched in this field. In a league of his own. Killed by the detonation of 83 tons of explosives in his underground bunker in Dahieh, Beirut. The Axis’ biggest loss since the killing of Qassem Soleimani. Israel’s most significant killing success in recent years. The blow that most shook the Shiite-Iranian axis.
- September 27: Ali Karaki – Commander of Hezbollah’s southern front, killed during the attack on the bunker where Nasrallah was staying in Dahieh, Beirut.
- September 27: Abbas Nilforoushan – the highest-ranking Iranian killed during the war in Lebanon, served as the area commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, replacing Mohammad Reza Zahedi. He was killed alongside Nasrallah in a bunker in Dahieh, Beirut.
- October 4: Hashem Safi al-Din – Head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council and a member of the Shura Council, Hezbollah’s highest military-political body responsible for the terrorist organization’s decision-making and policies. Safi al-Din, a rigid and extremist figure, was set to succeed Nasrallah after his death and was killed about a week after him. He died in an attack on the bunker he was staying in in Dahieh, Beirut.
- October 4: Hussein Ali Hazimeh – Head of Hezbollah Intelligence. Killed in an attack on the bunker where Hashem Safi al-Din was staying.
- October: Yahya Sinwar – Head of the Hamas Political Bureau and leader of Hamas in Gaza, architect and planner of the October 7 invasion. Released from Gaza in 2011 as part of the Gilad Shalit hostage crisis, rose to the highest ranks of Hamas in Gaza after his release and reached the top – and was killed. Since his release he has fundamentally changed relations between Israel and Gaza. Changed the face of the Middle East forever. Killed by during a clash with Israeli soldiers who did not realize who they were firing at until after his death.
- November 16: Muhammad Afif – Head of Hezbollah’s propaganda department and spokesman for the organization. He was killed while in the offices of the Baath Party (Lebanese branch) in Beirut.
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