Israel releases image of Hamas leader in tunnel in Khan Younis

Rare images of Yahya Sinwar

Israel has publicly accused Yahya Sinwar of being the “mastermind” behind the Hamas attack against Israel on October 7, making Sinwar one of the main targets of the Gaza war. However, experts say he may be just one of many key leaders.

Revealing the video at a daily press briefing, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Daniel Hagari said the footage was captured on Hamas security cameras on October 10 and collected by the IDF in recent days.

Image from video shows a man resembling Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in the Khan Younis underground tunnel - Photo: The National

“That is how Yahya Sinwar and his family escaped underground, in a tunnel leading to one of the safe houses he had built in advance,” said Mr. Hagari.

The IDF also released a second video showing Israeli forces entering a section of the Hamas tunnel where they believe Sinwar is hiding. In the video, a soldier whose face is blurred says they are at Sinwar’s “main hideout” and claims the Hamas leader has been there “recently.”

The video also shows a bathroom, a kitchen and bedrooms, and the soldier said troops also found “millions of shekels and dollars in safes and other funds scattered outside”.

“They ran away when they heard the IDF was approaching them. They knew we were coming so they ran away,” the soldier said in the video.

Further information needed to be verified

At present, the media has not been able to independently verify that Sinwar is the man seen in the video released by the Israeli military, nor when the video was recorded, and the IDF has not provided further evidence to support their claim.

IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari added that the video was “the result of our hunt for Sinwar” and “the hunt will not stop until he is captured, dead or alive. We are determined to capture him and we will capture him.”

In December, the IDF surrounded Yahya Sinwar’s home but failed to find him. IDF officials believe he is hiding underground. An adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later said: “It was only a matter of time before we caught him.”

However, Yahya Sinwar remains missing, despite Israel's fierce attack on Khan Younis, his hometown.

"Dig up" Khan Younis to find Yahya Sinwar

A longtime Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar was responsible for building the movement's military wing before forging important new relationships with regional Arab powers as Hamas's civilian and political leader.

Smoke rises from Khan Younis, the city that the Israeli army believes is still sheltering Mr. Yahya Sinwar - Photo: France 24

He was elected to Hamas's main decision-making body in 2017 as Hamas' political leader in Gaza, but has since become its de facto leader, according to research by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).

Yahya Sinwar was listed as a global terrorist by the US State Department in 2015 and is currently considered by Israel as the most important Hamas figure to be eliminated.

The Israeli military has stepped up attacks on central and southern Gaza in recent weeks, including in Khan Younis – an area the Israeli military previously urged large numbers of civilians to flee to in the early days of the war, when northern Gaza was the focus of Israeli attacks.

The IDF has declared Khan Younis a major Hamas stronghold. They believe the network of tunnels beneath civilian buildings in the city may have been where Hamas planned the October 7 attacks and is now also where key leaders such as Yahya Sinwar are hiding.

Nguyen Khanh (according to CNN, Sky News)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/israel-cong-bo-hinh-anh-thu-linh-hamas-trong-duong-ham-o-gaza-post284493.html