By Ibrahim al-Madhoun

We must pause and take the recent warnings of Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, with his clear and direct threats to Hamas's leadership, seriously, with an awareness of their gravity, and keep following them. Katz's talk of pursuing the Hamas movement and targeting its leaders in Gaza and abroad deserves a different reading, especially since he said clearly that Hamas leaders abroad also fall within the circle of targeting, and spoke of continuing to pursue the movement's leaders and attempts to target them.

The gravity of this statement stems from its coming from the Israeli defense minister: what is at stake here goes beyond political and media threats to a level tied to security and military decision-making, especially when it coincides with actual targeting operations against Hamas leaders in Gaza. This makes Katz's statement an indicator worth following, and it may reflect a direction or decisions being prepared or carried out.

The question here is: is Israel preparing to widen its operations against Hamas's leadership abroad? And will we see new assassination attempts in the coming period?

What makes these statements even more dangerous is that we are on the eve of the Israeli elections. Netanyahu is looking for a major achievement to present to the Israeli public and may see targeting Hamas's leadership as a major security and military achievement; moreover, a major security event could change the political and electoral landscape and open the door to exceptional measures. The elections are scheduled for 27 October, and Netanyahu spoke yesterday of indications that an attack could occur before the elections.

Over the past years, Israel has widened the geography of its targeting; Gaza and the West Bank are no longer the only arenas of confrontation. The attempt to target Hamas's leadership in Doha confirms that the movement's leadership being outside Palestine does not provide it with safety. After the targeting of Doha, I cannot see any Arab or Islamic capital that can be considered completely beyond the reach of Israeli targeting and intelligence work. The assassination of martyr Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and the attempt to target Hamas's leadership in Doha present a clear picture of the expanding scope of Israeli operations.

Therefore, no capital or place should be ruled out, and no step the Israeli occupation might take should be underestimated, especially when the defense minister speaks so frankly about placing Hamas leaders abroad within the circle of targeting.

I therefore recommend that the leadership of the Hamas movement treat this stage as a security emergency, take the utmost precautions and care, and review its arrangements for movement, travel, residence, communications and public appearances, especially as the Israeli elections approach and the level of indicators and threats rises.

I also recommend that the countries hosting Hamas leaders raise their level of attention and caution and treat this stage as extremely sensitive, for what lies ahead may be difficult.

The current stage requires changing the rules of movement, work and security arrangements, and raising the level of caution to the maximum.

Israel operates with the logic of an open war bound by neither place nor time, using military, intelligence, security and technological force in every arena, while we, unfortunately, still sometimes deal with this war with the logic of conventional war according to old equations, and that is where the danger lies.

We must realize today that there is no one hundred percent safe space, that the Israeli occupation is considering every option, path, means and place, and that the coming stage requires the highest degree of vigilance and caution. The danger is real, the stage is sensitive, the Israeli warning is clear, and dealing with it with the utmost caution is a necessity.