A report from the Hebrew newspaper “Israel Hayom” stated that “after weeks of speculation regarding Sinwar’s fate, Israel estimates that he is still alive and continues his work. On this basis, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant stated in a government meeting that Sinwar has not lost contact.”
The newspaper indicated that “these estimates come after a report by the Reuters agency about the Hamas leader in Gaza, which pointed out that Sinwar operates with complete secrecy from within an extensive tunnel network beneath Gaza. He constantly moves around and relies on trusted messengers for non-digital communication. He has not appeared in public since October 7.”
At that time, Reuters reported from Israeli sources that they “believe Sinwar and his brother, another senior Hamas leader, have so far survived Israeli airstrikes, while reports have indicated the death of his deputy Muhammad Deif and other senior leaders.”
The report also mentioned that during months of ceasefire negotiations led by Qatar and Egypt, focusing on prisoner exchanges, Sinwar was the sole decision-maker.
Negotiations were extremely slow, with mediators waiting days to receive responses that were conveyed through a secret chain of messengers.
At the end of last month, Hebrew media circulated news about the “death” of the Hamas political bureau chief Yahya Sinwar in an airstrike, without the occupation being aware of his presence at the targeted site.
However, estimates from the occupation army suggest that Sinwar is still alive and operating within Gaza.
According to the Hebrew newspaper “Maariv,” Sinwar takes significant precautions and avoids appearing even before close associates in Hamas.
The newspaper reveals that the idea he was killed by the Israeli army without them knowing of his presence at the targeted site arose during discussions held within the army.
During one of these discussions, this estimate was presented, but only a few participants in the discussion supported this theory, while the majority believed that Sinwar is still alive.
On Monday, Ben Caspit, a journalist from “Maariv,” published that “Israel” is considering the possibility that Sinwar may no longer be among the living.
This estimate was made by several experts in the Israeli military intelligence branch (Aman) specializing in Palestinian affairs, but so far they have no evidence or proof on the ground.
Conversely, the Israeli Security Agency (Shabak) rejected this possibility, believing that Sinwar is still alive.
The newspaper quoted a source familiar with the subject as saying: “There have been instances in the past where he disappeared, and we thought he was dead, but he later reappeared.”
Hebrew media revealed that the Israeli army suspected a corpse belonging to Hamas political bureau chief Yahya Sinwar, prompting them to bring several bodies for DNA testing.
Channel 12 reported that the Israeli army brought several bodies from the Gaza Strip to be examined at the Institute of Forensic Medicine to verify if any of them belong to Sinwar.
The channel noted that the bodies were transferred from Gaza to “Israel” for DNA testing, suspecting that one of them belonged to Sinwar, but the results returned negative.
