LONDON/DUBAI: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met members of a hit squad at Mossad headquarters shortly before they went to Dubai to kill a Hamas commander, Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper reported.

Netanyahu was welcomed to Mossad by its chief Meir Dagan and briefed on plans to kill Mahmud al-Mabhuh,

a top commander of

the Islamist movement that rules Gaza, the

paper said, quoting unnamed sources with knowledge of Mossad.

The prime minister reportedly authorised

the mission, which

was not seen as complicated or risky.

“Typically on such occasions, the prime minister intones: ‘The people of Israel trust you. Good luck,’” the paper added.

It also quoted a source saying burns from a stun gun were found on the body of Mabhuh, a founder of Hamas’s armed wing who was killed on a visit to Dubai, and that there were traces of a nose bleed.

The high-profile killing has caused diplomatic tensions between Israel and four European countries — Britain, Ireland, France and Germany — whose fake passports were linked to the hit. No government has directly accused Israel but Dubai police chief Dahi Khalfan Tamim has said it was “most likely” Mossad was behind the crime and wants Dagan to bear responsibility if it was.

Meanwhile, the Gulf emirate’s police chief said in a government-owned newspaper today that the hit squad made use of diplomatic passports.

“There is information that Dubai police will not make public for the

moment, especially regarding diplomatic passports” used by some of Mahmud al-Mabhuh’s killers to enter Dubai, Lieutenant Gen Dahi Khalfan told Al-Bayan.