‘Our job is to get to Sinwar, dead or alive,’ IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said of the senior Hamas leader suspected to be hiding in Gaza.
February 13, 2024 23:05
ByJC Reporter, JC Reporter
(JNS) The Israel Defense Forces released a new video on Tuesday night that appears to show Hamas terror leader Yahya Sinwar and his family hiding in a tunnel under Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip.
IDF forces recovered the security camera footage during a raid of a “strategic tunnel” underneath the southern Hamas stronghold, according to Israel’s Channel 13. Seen entering the tunnel shaft with one of his wives and three children, Sinwar appears unhurt.
A Hamas operative with a flashlight accompanies the terror leader, who wears Adidas flip-flops and carries a small plastic bag.
Spotted: Yahya Sinwar running away and hiding in his underground terrorist tunnel network as Gazan civilians suffer above ground under the rule of Hamas terrorism.
There is no tunnel deep enough for him to hide in. pic.twitter.com/KLjisBFq1f
Channel 12 News reported that the video was recorded on October 10, just three days after Hamas’s massacre of 1,200 people in Israel’s northwestern Negev region. Israeli troops seized the footage several months ago.
“This evening, we air footage of the mass murderer and mastermind of Hamas’s October 7 massacre, Yahya Sinwar,” wrote Avichay Adraee, head of the Arab media division in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, noting in Arabic that the video is one of many in the army’s possession.
“While the people of Gaza are suffering above ground, Sinwar hides in the tunnels below them, running like a coward,” he added. “Hamas leaders only care about their families and their money.”
IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told Ynet that the military is “determined to capture him—and will capture him.”
“Our job is to get to Sinwar, dead or alive. This is our mission, and we will continue to do so,” he added. “We will not reveal information about the ‘when’ and ‘how.'”
Sinwar is believed to still be hiding in the vast tunnel systems underneath Khan Yunis and the nearby city of Rafah, where he has reportedly surrounded himself with Israeli hostages as human shields.
Last week, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant showed documents seized from Hamas compounds in the Strip that he said proved the extent of Iranian funds flowing to Sinwar.
“The Hamas terrorist organization continues to fight as the citizens of Gaza are suffering,” Gallant said after meetings with the field intelligence unit of the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate.
“There is clear evidence of funds that were transferred, when they arrived and to whom they were transferred,” he said. “What we see is that Yahya Sinwar takes care of himself first and foremost. Out of millions of dollars, $1 million goes to him.”
“Take, for example, this envelope designated to Yahya Sinwar and his family. It contains cash, $20,000. Hamas is fighting and conducting terrorism, while Yahya Sinwar is celebrating with his family,” he added. “This is going to end. Yahya Sinwar turned from the leader of a terrorist organization into a fugitive.”
In November, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the Mossad spy agency to kill the top leadership of Hamas “wherever they are.” An Israeli strike killed Saleh al-Arouri, Hamas’s Judea and Samaria commander, in Beirut in early January.
IDF ground troops entered Gaza on October 27 after some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were murdered, thousands more were wounded and more than 250 were kidnapped during the October 7 terrorist attacks on southern Israel.