IDF DENIES REPORTS HAMAS LEADER YAHYA SINWAR AND BROTHER HAVE FLED FROM GAZA TO EGYPT

  Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and his family walk through a tunnel under Khan Younis (Screen grab IDF)

Wed 21 February 2024:

On Tuesday, a Saudi-owned news site reported that security officials believed Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, had crossed to Egypt through a vast network of tunnels beneath the border. However, Israeli officials refuted this story. The IDF, meanwhile, declared its intention to resume fighting in some areas of Gaza City, Times of Israel reported.

The report by the Arabic-language Elaph came as the Israel Defense Forces said it was continuing to focus fighting in the southern city of Khan Younis, while increasingly alarmed warnings were sounded against plans to expand the offensive south into Rafah, and as the tally of troops killed since the start of the ground invasion ticked upward to 236 with the death of a reservist injured in Kahn Younis last week.

The Elaph report claimed Tuesday that the Israeli security establishment has assessed that the leadership of Hamas, including Sinwar and his brother Muhammad, recently escaped to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula via tunnels from Rafah, and may have taken hostages along to use as human shields.

Israel has been closely monitoring eight significant tunnels between Gaza and Egypt in recent years which are capable of accommodating small vehicles.

It was impossible to assess the veracity of the report, which relied on a single source.  

Elaph, the publication that released this report, is a Saudi-based website located in London. It has previously published opinion columns written by Israeli officials, conducted interviews with them, and featured articles based on information provided by “Israeli sources.”

The IDF said it had no information that Sinwar has left Gaza.

Sinwar has not been seen in public since the October 7 attack led by Hamas in which some 1,200 people were killed in Israel.

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

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) February 13, 2024

One week ago, the IDF spokesperson released video recorded on a security camera showing the Sinwar walking underground through a tunnel during a ground incursion. The footage revealed that Sinwar, along with his brother Ibrahim Sinwar, one of his wives, and his children, was present in Khan Younis three days after the start of the war.