Hamas chief ‘caught on camera’ in tunnel
The Israeli military has released video footage that it claims shows the leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, in a tunnel accompanied by members of his family.
The black and white video, which Israel says was recorded by a Hamas security camera on October 10, shows a man identified by the army as Mr Sinwar being led through a tunnel alongside a woman and three children.
The footage is said to be the first showing Mr Sinwar since the Israel-Gaza war broke out.
The Israeli military identified the man leading the group through the tunnel – whose face can be seen in the clip – as Mr Sinwar’s brother, Ibrahim.
Israel accuses Mr Sinwar of plotting the October 7 attacks on communities in the country’s south, assaults that started the war.
Military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said troops recovered the video from a security camera during an operation in a tunnel.
He did not give details about the location.
“The footage shows the leader of Hamas and mass murderer, Yahya Sinwar, fleeing with his children and one of his wives,” Admiral Hagari said on Tuesday.
“This is how he escaped with his family from an underground tunnel to a secured complex he had built in advance.
“This video of Sinwar is the result of our hunt. This hunt will not stop until we have captured him dead or alive.”
The footage did not show where the tunnel was located in the Gaza Strip, but in recent weeks the Israeli military has besieged Khan Younis, the largest city in the south of the enclave and Mr Sinwar’s hometown.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said this month that Mr Sinwar was “moving from hideout to hideout” and was no longer leading Hamas’s operations in Gaza.
“He has now become a terrorist on the run from being the leader of Hamas,” Mr Gallant said.
Mr Sinwar joined Hamas after it was founded by Ahmed Yassin in 1987, at the beginning of the first Palestinian uprising, or intifada, against Israeli occupation.
In 1989, Mr Sinwar was convicted of the murder of two Israeli soldiers and four Palestinians and handed four life sentences. He was released in 2011 as part of a prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas.
In December last year, Israel placed a bounty of $400,000 on Mr Sinwar’s head and dropped leaflets in Gaza offering cash rewards for information leading to his capture.