Defense Minister: Israel will “find and eliminate” Hamas leader in Gaza

Defense Minister: Israel will “find and eliminate” Hamas leader in Gaza

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant promised on Saturday that the country’s forces would find and eliminate the head of the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinwar.

“We will find Sinwar and eliminate him,” Gallant told a news conference as Israeli forces continued street battles with Hamas militants in the Palestinian enclave.

“I say to the people of Gaza, if you get there before we do, it will shorten the war.”

Shortly after the war between Israel and Hamas began, Israel declared that Sinwar was the “walking dead” and that he and the leader of the group’s military wing, Mohammed Deif, were the military’s main targets in the conflict.

Security sources outside the Gaza Strip say that Y. Sinwar and M. Deif are currently hiding in the Gaza Strip underground in a network of military tunnels installed by Hamas.

AFP/Scanpix/Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant

Y. Gallant also said that Israeli forces are persistently fighting in the territory of the Gaza Strip.

“We’re done [Gazos miesto] apsupimą. IDF [Izraelio kariuomenės] forces operate from the south and north [nuo Gazos miesto] and entered populated areas,” the minister noted.

On October 7, Hamas militants stormed the border and killed at least 1,400, according to Israeli officials. people, mostly civilians, and took at least 240 hostages.

After this attack, Israel began a relentless bombing campaign against the Hamas-controlled enclave, during which, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, more than 9,200 people were killed in the area. people, mostly civilians.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population severely short of food, water, medicine and fuel.

Hamas is the Palestinian militant group that rules the Gaza Strip; it has been involved in several wars with Israel since taking over the Gaza Strip in 2007. The group has been recognized as a terrorist by Israel, the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and some other countries.