For months, Israel’s army combed the Gaza Strip in search of Yahya Sinwar. He kept slipping away. Now footage shows where the Hamas leader was hiding.
The Israeli army has published new information about the hiding place of the killed Hamas chief Jahja Sinwar, who gave the order for a major attack on Israel from an “underground fortress” equipped with plasma televisions, among other things. According to the information, video footage shows Sinwar holed up with his family in an underground tunnel system before the Hamas attack on October 7th last year.
The footage released by the army over the weekend shows Sinwar, wearing a simple T-shirt, his wife and two sons walking through a tunnel where the Hamas leader appears to be storing extensive supplies.
“It can be seen how Sinwar and his family fled to an underground complex beneath his home on the evening of October 6, just hours before the terrible massacre,” Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said.
“Sinwar and his son go up and down with food, water, pillows, a plasma television, mattresses and other things for a long stay,” Hagari explained. The Hamas leader built “an underground fortress in his town of Khan Yunis” in the center of the Gaza Strip, “from where he gave the order to attack,” the army spokesman said. He also showed pictures of the underground hiding place with showers, toilets, kitchens and beds.
Israel pursued Yahya Sinwar into the Hamas tunnel system
The hiding place in Khan Yunis was reportedly discovered by the Israeli army in February. The Hamas leader apparently fled to Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip shortly beforehand. Sinwar moved between the two cities through a huge underground network and was always accompanied by bodyguards.
Israeli forces almost surrounded him several times during the war, but he always managed to escape, Hagari said. The hunt for him continued on the ground and underground “with the aim of isolating Sinwar until he makes a mistake.”
Ultimately, Sinwar’s whereabouts in Rafah were determined after “his DNA sample was found on a handkerchief with which he had blown his nose,” said the army spokesman.
Hamas leaderless for the second time in just a few months
Sinwar was killed in an Israeli military operation on Wednesday. His organization dismissed as “obvious lies” Hagari’s statements that the man killed had gone into hiding and put his family’s life above that of other people.
“Commander Jahja Sinwar was martyred after heroically participating in the battle and leading the greatest battle in the history of our Palestinian people,” a Hamas statement said. Sinwar has not appeared in public since the unprecedented major attack on Israel over a year ago.
Source: Stern
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