Israel stated that after Hamas suffered many setbacks in Khan Younis, Gaza, and the terrorist organisation that planned the October 7 assaults continued to remain silent on the radio, Hamas intended to remove Gaza head Yahya Sinwar.
Following the Israeli Defence Forces’ (IDF) destruction of Hamas battalions in Khan Younis, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant stated on Sunday that the leadership of Hamas abroad has lost faith in the ability of those stationed in Gaza to govern.
“Hamas has a very, very evident lack of faith in its commanders. There is no leadership on the ground and the Hamas-Gaza station does not respond. That implies a tender is being held to determine Gaza’s manager, according to a Times of Israel quotation from Gallant.
According to an independent assessment by Israeli Channel 12, Sinwar has not spoken with the terrorist organisation in weeks. It’s still unclear why Sinwar can’t be reached; it may be because he’s evading capture or that there are intermittent communication outages in Gaza.
Regarding Gallant’s accusations and Sinwar’s location, Hamas remains silent as well. The IDF has promised to find Sinwar, but he has been evasive.
The IDF stated this week that Sinwar was isolated in northern Gaza in November, but he managed to get out by utilising one of the 300-mile network of tunnels to the south. Videos showing Sinwar and his family rushing through the tunnel system were made public shortly after the October 7 bombings.
In December, Israeli soldiers once more encircled his Khan Younis residence, but they came away empty-handed. But when it came time for the raids to find Sinwar, it was under attack from Hamas militants. Rear admiral Daniel Hagari, an IDF spokesman, declared last week that Sinwar’s search will not end until he is apprehended dead or alive.
As Israeli forces are ready to lay siege on Rafah, which is now Gaza’s most populated city and home to more than 1.4 million refugees, the minister of defence for Israel declared that there are no more places for Sinwar to flee.
What separates Hamas from a total military collapse is an IDF decision. “Hamas is left with marginal [forces] in the central camps and with the Rafah Brigade.” With Hamas’s battalions reduced from 24 to only six, two in central Gaza and four in Rafah, Gallant stated, “There is no one here to come to their aid, no Iranians, no international help.”
