Israel released a never-before-seen video of Hamas’s top leader this SaturdayYahya Sinwarrecorded just hours before the massacre perpetrated by the Palestinian group on October 7, 2023, in a tunnel Khan Yunis, southern Gazahiding with his family and gathering food and blankets.
“The recording was found a few months ago by the armed forces,” explained Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari at a press conference. In the video, Sinwar appears accompanied by his wife and son are walking inside a tunnel while carrying food, water and blankets.
In January, Israel also released images of Sinwar walking through the tunnels with his family days after the attack. At that time, these were the only images Israel had of where is the person also considered the mastermind of the October 7 attacks.
The army confirmed Sinwar’s death on Thursday, after launching a military operation against him the day before in Rafah, in the far south of the enclave. “Yahya Sinwar was eliminated after hiding for the past year behind the civilian population of Gaza, both above ground and underground in Hamas tunnels in the Gaza Strip,” the military statement details.
His death marks a before and after in the course of the regional conflict: not only was the elimination of the “most wanted man” achieved” of Israel, but the Palestinian Islamist group was decapitated, since Sinwar was one of the few survivors of the Hamas hierarchy, after the assassinations of the head of the political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, and the military leader, Mohamed Deif, this summer .
Born in 1962 in the Khan Younis refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip, Sinwar was elected leader of Hamas in the enclave in 2017 after establishing a reputation as a staunch, implacable enemy of Israel. towards the informants, and since November 6, the highest leader of Hamas. the group, which he joined at the age of 19.
