Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader who Israel believes was the mastermind behind the October 7 terrorist attacks, is said to have fled shortly after the attacks, according to Israeli media. “By hiding in a humanitarian convoy.”
Source: Kan, Times of Israel, CNN Yesterday at 17:35
Yahya Sinwar is a ‘dead man walking’, says Israel. Although they have not yet managed to locate the Hamas leader, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it is only a matter of time “before we get him”. On Wednesday, Israeli forces surrounded his house, although Sinwar is suspected to be hiding somewhere in the Hamas tunnels under Gaza.
Sinwar is one of, if not Israel’s, main target in the war. Although experts say he is “just one of many”, he has already been publicly accused by Israel of being the mastermind behind the October 7 terror attacks. Those attacks killed 1,200 people and kidnapped another 240.
Despite the manhunt, Sinwar has not yet been caught. Although Israeli media are now reporting that the Hamas leader fled to the south of the Gaza Strip soon after the attacks. “He was able to escape by hiding in a humanitarian convoy,” Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported, citing an official familiar with the situation.
The article adds that Sinwar is currently likely to be in the southern city of Khan Younis, or rather in the tunnel network beneath the city.
Wie is Yahya Sinwar?
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Yahya Sinwar, born in 1962, is the founder of Hamas’s security force, the Majd, and is also Hamas’s leader in the Gaza Strip. He initially had to serve a life sentence, but was eventually released along with a thousand others in exchange for an Israeli prisoner. In 2017, he became head of the political bureau in the Gaza Strip.
After “general leader” Ismail Haniyeh, Sinwar is about the most powerful man in Hamas. Unlike Haniyeh, who has lived in Qatar for years, Sinwar is said to still be in the Gaza Strip.