Paris 2024 Olympics – Football – Men’s Group D – Israel vs Paraguay – Parc des Princes, Paris, France – July 27, 2024. Israel fans outside the stadium before the match. Photo: REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier
Israel’s Shin Bet security agency has decided to increase the security of the Israeli delegation at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh early Wednesday morning in Iran and the killing of senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Lebanon the prior night.
Ynet reported on Wednesday that additional security guards were added to the Shin Bet’s personnel and security unit protecting Israeli athletes, coaches, and staff staying in the Olympic Village and elsewhere in Paris. Members of the Olympic delegation have received increased safety instructions and local French security forces helping to protect the Israeli delegation have also boosted their security personnel.
French police announced on Sunday that they were investigating death threats received by three Israeli athletes at the Paris Olympic Games.
Last week, Israel’s National Cyber Directorate investigated the release of personal information of Israeli Olympic athletes on social networks. They concluded that Iranian hackers published personal data about members of the Israeli delegation and sent Israeli athletes threatening messages, according to Reuters. Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz also warned of a potential Iranian-backed terrorist plot to target Israeli athletes and tourists during the Paris Olympic Games.
France’s Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin and National Police both announced previously that they were taking increased security measures to ensure the safety of Israel’s Olympic delegation while they are in Paris, including providing them with 24-hour security.
Haniyeh was assassinated in Iran’s capital of Tehran on Wednesday morning, allegedly by an Israeli airstrike, after attending the swearing-in ceremony of the country’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian.
Shukr was killed Tuesday night in an Israeli strike in the Lebanese capital of Beirut. Shukr was also wanted by the United States for his key role in a deadly 1983 bombing of a US Marine base in Beirut in which 241 people were killed.
In April, three of Haniyeh’s sons and four of his grandchildren were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip.
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