The British newspaper ‘Daily Express’ published today (Monday) that the leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, has abandoned the terror tunnels – and is in plain sight, among Palestinian residents disguised as a woman.
The words were published by the newspaper called “Israeli intelligence agents”.
According to the report, which was quoted in ‘Kam Ha’od’, former Shin Bet official Shalom Ben Hanan, who is considered to be involved in the search for the Hamas leader, was quoted in the report as saying that from the experience gained in operations and other elimination operations, Sinwar will not stay in a tunnel or anywhere else underground for More than 24-36 hours at a time.
The reason for this, according to him, is that the Hamas leader knows that he can be found there as well, with the help of technological means.
Another senior source was quoted as saying that the search these days for Sinwar is being conducted using both technological means and human intelligence, with the assessment being that Sinwar is in plain sight.
Another source said that the last message sent by Sinwar was clear and short, “so that confusion would not arise” as he moved from destination to destination until he reached his desired destination.
This is in addition to last night’s report by the New York Times that IDF commandos raided tunnels in the southern Gaza Strip in January in order to capture Sinwar, but he left before the operation and since then his traces have disappeared. The American newspaper reviewed Israel’s efforts to hunt down Sinwar, and claimed that “Sinwar’s ability to evade capture or death prevented Israel from military success in the war.”
