Video released by Israel shows Hamas leader fleeing through tunnel in Gaza

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released, this Tuesday (13), a video that shows the leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, inside a tunnel in the city of Khan Younis, in the south of the Strip. Gaza.

According to IDF (Israel Defense Forces) spokesman Daniel Hagar, the footage, which shows Sinwar, his wife, children and his brother Ibrahim Sinwar, was captured by a CCTV camera at the Hamas on October 10, just 3 days after the attack on Israel.

At a press conference, Hagar added that the leader had fled to “secure accommodation complexes that he had built in advance,†in addition to stating that the video is the result of a “hunting†by Sinwar.

“The hunt will not stop until he is captured, dead or alive. We are determined to capture him. We will capture him†, concluded the spokesperson.

_{Video released by Israel shows the Hamas leader fleeing through a tunnel in Gaza. (Video: Reproduction/Youtube/The Economic Times).}

Who is Yahya Sinwar

Described as one of the most wanted men in the world and considered one of the masterminds of Hamas attacks in Israel, Yahya Sinwar, is the leader of the extremist group in the Gaza branch and has commanded the Palestinian territory since 2017.

The 61-year-old man was born in the Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza in 1962. In 1982, he was arrested for the first time in Israel for “Islamic activitiesâ€. At this time, Sinwar attended the Islamic University of Gaza, where, according to columnist Ibrahim al-Madhoun, he became a member of the Hamas student movement and became close to the group's founder, Ahmed Yassin.

In his third arrest, in 1989, Yahya was sentenced to life imprisonment for four homicides. During this time as a prisoner in Israel, the leader became fluent in Hebrew, stating that he wanted to know the enemy.

Yahya Sinwar was released in 2011, along with 1,026 other Palestinian prisoners, as part of negotiations for the release of Israeli soldier Guilad Shalit, who had been a Hamas prisoner for around five years.

Hunt for the leader

The leader of Hamas, declared by the Israeli military as a “walking dead man†, He is wanted by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) since the attack on Israel on October 7.

In December, the military surrounded Sinwar's house, but did not find him. They, however, believed that the leader was hiding underground. As early as February 6, the IDF said it was continuing to investigate Sinwar's whereabouts and was confident they would find him.

In recent weeks, Israel has intensified attacks on the center and south of Gaza, mainly on Khan Younis – where the Jewish State believes there is a network of tunnels, which would have been used to plan the attacks on October 7 and how the “main hiding place†by Yahya Sinwar.Â

Featured photo: supposed silhouette of Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar, fleeing through a tunnel in the Gaza Strip. (Reproduction/Israel Army).