The Botched Assassination That Brought a Hamas Leader Back from the Brink
In late September 1997, Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency carried out one of its most infamous and ultimately failed operations: an attempt to assassinate Khaled Mashal (also spelled Meshaal or Mashaal), then the chairman of Hamas’s political bureau. The episode not only ended in dramatic failure but also forced Israel to take the extraordinary step of providing the very antidote needed to save the life of the man it had tried to kill—effectively “reviving” him from near-certain death.
The backdrop was a wave of deadly Hamas suicide bombings in Israel, including a particularly devastating attack at Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda market in July 1997 that killed 16 people and wounded over 160. Then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in his first term, authorized a targeted killing of Mashal in retaliation. Mashal, a key political figure in Hamas living in exile in Amman, Jordan, was seen as a high-value target.
On September 25, 1997, a Mossad team—operating under forged Canadian passports—approached Mashal on a street near his office in Amman. One agent sprayed or applied a fast-acting poison (widely reported as a potent fentanyl derivative, possibly levofentanyl or a modified opioid up to 100 times stronger than standard fentanyl) into Mashal’s ear or onto his skin. The poison was designed to kill quietly within hours, leaving no obvious trace. Mashal immediately felt the effects, collapsed, and was rushed to a hospital, where his condition deteriorated rapidly into a coma.
The operation unraveled almost immediately. Two of the Mossad agents were captured by Jordanian police as they tried to flee. Others sought refuge in the Israeli embassy, which was soon surrounded by Jordanian forces. The incident sparked a full-blown diplomatic crisis between Israel and Jordan, a neighbor with which Israel had signed a historic peace treaty just three years earlier in 1994.
Jordan’s King Hussein was furious. He viewed the assassination attempt on Jordanian soil as a grave humiliation and a violation of sovereignty. Fearing that Mashal’s death could spark riots, unrest among Palestinians in Jordan, or even a broader destabilization of his kingdom, the king issued an ultimatum: provide the antidote immediately, or face execution of the captured agents, a potential storming of the Israeli embassy, and the unraveling of the peace agreement.
Under intense pressure—including intervention from U.S. President Bill Clinton, who urged Netanyahu to comply—Israel relented. Mossad Director Danny Yatom personally flew to Jordan with the antidote (an opioid reversal agent such as naloxone or a specific countermeasure carried by the team as a precaution against accidental exposure). It was administered at the King Hussein Medical Center, where doctors had observed symptoms consistent with opioid overdose. Mashal, who had been on the verge of death, recovered after two days in a coma.
In exchange for the antidote and to secure the release of the captured agents (and others holed up in the embassy), Israel agreed to free several Palestinian prisoners, most notably Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Hamas’s founder and spiritual leader, who had been imprisoned since 1989. Yassin’s release was a major concession and boosted Hamas’s morale.
The fallout was significant for Israel. The operation was widely criticized as a bungled embarrassment, exposing Mossad tactics, straining relations with Jordan, and inadvertently elevating Mashal’s status. The failed attempt turned him into a symbol of resilience and defiance for many Palestinians and supporters of Hamas. Mashal himself later reflected that the experience strengthened his faith and courage, remarking that a person dies only when God decides, not when Mossad does.
Mashal went on to lead Hamas’s political bureau for two decades until 2017, operating from exile in Qatar and elsewhere. He survived multiple subsequent threats and assassination attempts, outlasting several other Hamas leaders who were successfully targeted by Israel in later years.
The 1997 incident remains a stark reminder of the high-stakes risks in covert operations—and how diplomatic realities can force even the most determined adversaries into life-saving cooperation.
About The Author
