IDF recently rejected an attack on Hamas leader Sinwar over fears of killing Israeli hostages – report

According to a recent local media report, Israel recently missed the opportunity to eliminate Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in the Gaza Strip out of concern for the remaining Israeli hostages.

Sinwar, who was elected as political leader of Hamas after assassination of the former leader Ismail HaniyehHe is one of Israel's most wanted terrorists, if not the most wanted.

Along with his brother Mohammed Sinwar and recently eliminated military commander Mohammed Dief, Sinwar is said to have directed and commanded the October 7 massacres.

On Sunday evening, the “Main Edition” program on N12 News announced that Israel's security establishment had received the “golden news” of an extraordinary operational opportunity to eliminate Sinwar in the Gaza Strip. However, after examining the situation, the leadership decided against carrying out an attack in its vicinity due to the high risk of hostages.

Sinwar is believed to be hiding in tunnels in the Gaza Strip, surrounded by hostages acting as human shields for the Hamas leader. Sinwar believes Israel will not carry out any attacks that could endanger the lives of the hostages.

In December 2023, Tzachi Hanegbi, head of the National Security Council, stated in an interview with the N12 program “Meet the Press”: “If we receive information about Sinwar's whereabouts and we know that he is surrounded by Israeli abductees, it will be heartbreaking be a dilemma.”

“It’s a dilemma,” Hanegbi said at the time, “at the end of the day you have to make a decision.”

In recent days, reports suggested that Sinwar appeared to be out of contact and his condition was unknown. Some believe Sinwar is hiding and exploiting coded forms of communication to avoid detection.

On Sunday evening, the Israeli military released a photo of IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi's assessment meeting following the attack Attack in Yemenwith a diagram of the Hamas leadership in the background.

At the top of the table was Sinwar's name with a question mark over it. Several reports in Israeli media interpreted this as an indication that Sinwar was unable to communicate with other Hamas leaders. Last week, reports in Israel suggested it might have been Sinwar injured or killed in an Israeli attack during the war.

The IDF later announced that tests on several bodies recovered in attacks in recent weeks did not match Sinwar. Other reports claimed that the IDF did not believe that two new attacks had taken place Testify supposedly issued by Sinwar were actually written by him.

Following the Elimination of the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallaha Saudi news site claimed that Sinwar did this changed its location to avoid being discovered.

There have been previous reports that the Hamas leader may be hiding among the Gaza population. dressed as a woman.