Yahya Sinwar ‘above ground carrying out his work as Hamas leader’
Hamas’ chief in Gaza has reportedly emerged from his tunnel hiding place to ‘act as leader’, in further evidence of the difficulties Israel faces in efforts to destroy the militant group.
Hamas’ chief in Gaza has reportedly emerged from his hiding place below ground to meet with the militant group’s troops, and “carrying out his work as leader,” in further evidence that Hamas is defying Israeli attempts to destroy it.
A senior member of Hamas told the Al-Araby Al-Jadeed newspaper that Yahya Sinwar “recently inspected areas that witnessed clashes between the resistance and the occupation army, and met some of the movement’s fighters on the ground and not in the tunnels.”
The source claimed that Sinwar, who has been hiding in the organisation’s vast tunnel network under Khan Younis, was “not isolated from reality” adding that he was “carrying out his work as a leader of the movement in the field.”
“Talk that Sinwar is isolated in the tunnels is nothing but a claim on the part of Netanyahu and his agencies to cover up his failure to achieve the goals declared to the Israeli street and to his allies,” the source said, in comments described by hostage families as “reliable.”
The source said Sinwar had reported to fellow Hamas leaders abroad about the situation in the Gaza Strip, “during which he confirmed, with accurate numbers and field reports, the strength and solidity of the resistance’s position.”
The Hostage and Missing Families Forum told Israeli media that intelligence sources found the report “reliable”, adding: “The picture of Sinwar in the streets of Gaza, while the hostages languish in basements, is the picture of Israeli failure.”
A former Shin Bet officer who had questioned Sinwar when the Hamas leader was imprisoned in Israel told the Maariv newspaper it was possible that Sinwar “taking advantage of the IDF’s shuffling and the withdrawal of most of the forces from the Strip, for his freer movement while commanding his fighters.”
Israel’s message that it is on the verge of destroying the militant group is fraying as Hamas continues to battle the Israeli military, changing techniques to remain a fighting force.
Two hundred days after the October 7 massacre, fighting is again intensifying in the north of Gaza, which the Israeli Defence Forces had confidently cleared only weeks ago were cleared of militants.
Hamas’ ability to re-emerge from areas that have been nearly razed by the IDF prove the difficulty the military is facing even as it prepares a ground invasion in the southern city of Rafa.
Amir Avivi, a former deputy commander in the Israeli military who oversaw operations in Gaza, tole the Wall St Journal: “A huge challenge is not the first part, when you go full-scale and control an area: It’s maintaining and deepening that control
“It’s a different kind of warfare”.
Intense clashes have occurred in recent days in the towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia, close to the fence with Israel, and in Gaza City, as Hamas fighters regroup in small units, shifting to urban guerrilla-warfare tactics.
It came as Hamas released a video of a badly injured Israeli-American man held hostage in Gaza who tells the camera the captives are living “in hell”.
He identifies himself as Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, one of the hostages abducted from the Nova music festival in southern Israel during the Hamas attack on October 7.
His parents said in a statement they were “relieved to see him alive” but worried for his wellbeing.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum campaign group said the family had “given permission for the video of their son Hersh” to be broadcast by the media.
Goldberg-Polin was seriously wounded during his capture and the video shows him missing a hand.
“I went to hang out with my friends, and instead, I found myself fighting for my life with severe injuries all over my body,” he says in the video, the authenticity of which AFP has not been able to independently verify.
It was unclear when or where the video was taken, though Goldberg-Polin mentions being held hostage “for almost 200 days”.
The Israel-Hamas war hit the 200-day mark on Tuesday.
Posted on Hamas’s official Telegram account, the footage shows Goldberg-Polin, likely speaking under duress, criticising Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the crisis and the military’s failed attempts to bring the hostages home.
In an apparent reference to Jewish Passover, which began this week, Goldberg-Polin says: “Netanyahu and members of the Israeli government, while you sit and have holiday meals with your families, think of us, the hostages, who are still here in hell”.
He urges them to “bring us home now”.
Meanwhile Israel claims to have eliminated half of Hezbollah’s commanders in southern Lebanon.
Defence Minister Yoav Gallant made the claim in a statement, which doesn’t specify whether ground troops had crossed the border.
“Many forces are deployed on the border and IDF (army) forces are carrying out offensive action currently throughout southern Lebanon,” Gallant said in a statement.
He also claimed that “half of Hezbollah’s commanders in southern Lebanon have been eliminated” in months of violence.
“The other half are in hiding and abandoning the field to IDF operations,” he added without giving a specific number.
A spokesman for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) told AFP that “we didn’t detect any ground crossing today.” The Israeli army said it had struck 40 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon. “A short while ago, IDF (army) fighter jets and artillery struck approximately 40 Hezbollah terror targets” around Aita al-Shaab in southern Lebanon, including storage facilities and weaponry, it said.
The army said Hezbollah “has established dozens of terror means and infrastructures in the area” to attack Israel.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said Israel had carried out more than 13 strikes near Aita al-Shaab and surrounding villages.
“Israeli warplanes carried out … more than 13 air strikes targeting the outskirts of the towns of Aita al-Shaab, Ramya, Jabal Balat and Khallet Warda,” it said.
With AFP
More Coverage
Tories choose Badenoch as their first black female leader
The choice of ‘anti-woke’ Kemi Badenoch as the Conservatives’ leader is a historic moment, but she will have to rebuild a divided and weakened party emphatically ousted from power in July after 14 years in charge.
Israel, US can expect ‘tooth breaking response’ to attacks
After initially attempting to play down Israel’s attacks on Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei is now threatening both Israel and the US as Iraq’s Shia militias say they will support a strike launched from their country.