Too fun to check? Or the obvious outcome of starting a war that Israel now insists on finishing, entirely?

According to one media outlet in Israel, the leaders of Hamas have suddenly fled their cushy haven in Qatar for parts unknown. First, Makan reported from its sources in Doha that “a number” of Hamas officials and their staffers had left the country, which had offered them security for nearly a decade. Separately, KAN (Makan’s parent) reported that another “senior member of Hamas” had bailed out of Beirut. Joel Pollak aggregated this into one report for Breibart:

Hamas leaders who had lived in luxurious exile in Qatar have left for unknown destinations as of Tuesday and have switched off their phones, according to the Israeli Kan channel’s Arabic news service, Makan.

According to Makan (via Google translate), a “number” of Hamas leaders have left Qatar “for an unknown destination,” though they are presumed to be going to Lebanon, Iran, or Algeria.

The Jerusalem Post added: “Additionally, on Tuesday, KAN news reported that Saleh al-Arouri, a senior member of Hamas, left his usual residence in Beirut for Turkey.”

The Twitter account Israel War Room suggested that they had been “told to leave” for Algeria:

#BREAKING: Initial reports suggests that top Hamas brass in Qatar have been told to leave for Algeria, as their security can no longer be guaranteed.

— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) December 12, 2023

Told to leave? By whom? The Qataris? The Iranians?

The decision to flee Qatar seems curious, although not inexplicable. Israel has pledged to hunt every member of Hamas down to the last man, including those living high off the haram in Doha — Ismail Haniyeh and Khaled Mashaal in particular. The Israelis even formed a special unit in the Mossad to execute this plan (in every sense of that verb), reminiscent of their Operation Wrath of God after the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre.

But Doha warned the Israelis about conducting any assassinations in their country, especially while the Hamas chief terrorists remained in negotiations. Israel has an interest in those talks too, as long as they believe the hostages are still alive and can be freed. Israel made it clear, if not entirely public, that they would not target Hamas leaders in Qatar while negotiations continued. Of course, Mossad negotiators left Qatar on December 2nd after Hamas repeatedly violated the terms of the operational ‘pause’ and hostages-for-prisoners deal.

That was almost two weeks ago, though. Suddenly, these sources report that Hamas leaders are fleeing in the moment, even though they have been long-established in Qatar (and become very wealthy as a consequence, about which more in a moment). If true — and so far, this is still pretty thin sourcing — it would mean something very significant has changed within the last day or two and that someone believes that the Israelis are likely to unleash this new Mossad unit at any time. What might have changed to that degree? A happy possibility could be that the Hamas command structure in Gaza, and especially in Khan Younis, is about to collapse, which means that the negotiators are useless. A less-happy possibility is that the negotiators have become useless because the hostages are all dead, and they think the Israelis know it.

A third possibility is that Yayha Sinwar has stopped taking orders from Hamas leadership in Qatar, and that‘s made Haniyeh, Mashaal et al useless. This morning, the Jerusalem Post relates a Channel 12 report that Sinwar blew a gasket after hearing that the Doha leadership opened talks with the Palestinian Authority about governing in a post-war Gaza, which would necessarily exclude Sinwar and his clique:

This was sparked by recent talks held between top Hamas members, including Ismail Haniyeh and Khaled Mashal, and representatives of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. These talks focused on preparing for the end of the current Israeli war in Gaza and the possibility of establishing a united Palestinian leadership.

Upon learning of these discussions, Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, reacted strongly, reportedly going on a rampage in his bunker, and vehemently opposed holding any further talks between the two sides.

If Sinwar has decided to cut ties with the absentee leadership in Doha, that would make them expendable. Can Sinwar do that and still fight effectively? All of his financial and political support comes through Haniyeh, whose connections to the Qataris and Iranians are indispensable to Hamas’ genocidal aspirations, and Sinwar’s in no position to exercise any personal ties to either while hiding in a Khan Younis tunnel. Of course, none of those connections are doing Sinwar any good at the moment anyway. If he’s heading for an ignominious death or an even more ignominious capture at the hands of the Israelis, then Sinwar may have nothing to lose in cutting ties and going down on his own terms.

If that’s the case, the Israelis again have no reason to hold back any longer in their mission to eliminate every single Hamas leader after the atrocities of 10/7. And those Hamas leaders won’t be any safer in Algeria than they were in Qatar.

All of this is predicated on the rumors that the Hamas leadership has actually fled, of course. We may find out that they’re still in place, but they have to be considering their longer-term options by now. Sinwar keeps upping the ante on hostages by insisting on terms no one expects the Israelis to accept, and that strongly suggests that Sinwar no longer has live hostages to swap, or at least is hoarding them for his own personal escape at some point. The Israelis are flooding the tunnels, which means Hamas will no longer have any strategic or tactical advantages in Gaza after this war, and the Israelis won’t stand by while they divert billions of dollars into rebuilding them this time. Haniyeh and his terrorist leadership is becoming less relevant by the minute, which means that the Mossad will be coming after them soon, if not already.

When they flee, they’ll be traveling heavy, too. Haniyeh and his clique have grown fat in Qatar, ballooning their personal wealth off of corruption and terrorism while the Gazans have largely lived in miserable poverty. Twitter satirist Imam of Peace offered up this caustic take on pleas for charitable support for Hamas, and where the money really goes. Cry harder, Yahya.

Must watch: pic.twitter.com/eiH1wFMBX7

— Imam of Peace (@Imamofpeace) December 13, 2023