Israeli PM approved Hamas hit: report

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-Mabhouh, 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, possibly from being smothered.

Typically on such occasions, the prime minister intones: 'The people of Israel trust you. Good luck

Britain Sunday Times

Diplomatic passports

The Dubai police chief said the hit squad made use of diplomatic passports in a government-owned newspaper on Sunday.

"There is information that Dubai police will not make public for the moment, especially regarding diplomatic passports" used by some of Mabhouh's killers to enter Dubai, Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan told Al-Bayan.

The United Arab Emirates, meanwhile, expressed deep concern over the abuse of European passports by the killers of Mabhouh in Dubai, the foreign ministry said Sunday in the federal government's first reaction to the murder.

"The UAE is deeply concerned by the fact that passports of close allies, whose nationals currently enjoy preferential visa waivers, were illegally used to commit this crime," said the statement, carried by the official WAM news agency.

The UAE's minister of state for foreign affairs, Dr Anwar Gargash, has summoned European Union ambassadors to the UAE to brief them on developments in the case, the statement said, and to seek their continued cooperation with the investigation.

"The abuse of passports poses a global threat, affecting both countries' national security as well as the personal security of travellers," UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan said in a statement on WAM.

"We fully intend that those responsible are brought to account for their actions," he said.

There is information that Dubai police will not make public for the moment, especially regarding diplomatic passports

Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan

Mabhouh, a founder of the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, was found dead in his hotel room in Dubai on January 20.

Khalfan did not provide further details on the diplomatic passports.

Last week, Khalfan released the names and photos of 11 suspects with European passports, six from Britain, three from Ireland, one from Germany and one from France, in the killing.

The use of European passports has sparked a diplomatic furor in which Israeli envoys in the four countries have been summoned for talks.

But on Saturday, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon insisted there would be no crisis in ties with Europe over the use of foreign passports in the Mabhuh murder "as Israel had nothing to do with what happened."

Khalfan, however, has said he is "99, if not 100 percent" sure that Israel's spy agency Mossad was behind the assassination, and added on Saturday that Dubai had evidence, including wiretaps, of Mossad involvement.

Mabhuh's killing "is no longer a local issue, but a security issue for European countries," Khalfan said on Sunday, quoted in the Abu Dhabi newspaper Al-Ittihad.

Al-Ittihad said Khalfan has called for Hamas to conduct an internal investigation "about the person who leaked information on Mabhuh's movements" and arrival in Dubai to his killers.

"The UAE is deeply concerned by the fact that passports of close allies, whose nationals currently enjoy preferential visa waivers, were illegally used to commit this crime

UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan