Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar again gives the slip to Israeli troops, narrowly evades capture

The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) has said that Hamas's top leader Yahya Sinwar narrowly evaded capture during its combat operations in southern Gaza.

According to Israeli media reports on Wednesday (Dec 20), Sinwar is believed to be hiding in tunnels under Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis, after fleeing the north by hiding in a humanitarian convoy moving to the south during the early days of the terror group’s war with Israel.

It is reported that Sinwar managed to escape just before the Israeli forces arrived.

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According to Channel 13, IDF has been primarily focusing its operations around Khan Younis city in order to achieve its goal of killing Sinwar.

On Sunday, they raided the homes of several Hamas leaders, Sinwar being one of them.

Sinwar evading capture

The IDF intelligence believes that Sinwar has never remained stationary in one place and has constantly been on the move for an extended period.

On December 6, the IDF reportedly surrounded his home in Khan Younis despite there being no indication that he was residing there. It is understood that he owns multiple homes and has been hiding in one of them.

Yahya Sinwar is suspected to have engineered Hamas'sOctober 7 attack on Israel, which killed at least 1200 Israelis, including civilians. He replaced Ismail Haniyeh to become the leader of Hamas in Gaza in 2017.Haniyeh resides in Qatar and serves as the chair of the terror group’s political bureau.

Born in the Khan Younis refugee camp, the 61-year-old was elected Hamasleader in Gaza in 2017.

He spent more than two decades behind bars in Israel, before being freed 12 years ago in a deal his brother helped negotiate.

Sinwar's rise

He was arrested in 1988 and sentenced to consecutive life terms after being accused ofplanning the abduction and murder of two Israeli soldiers and the murder of four Palestinians.

He previously headed the Al-Majd security apparatus which tracked, killed, and punished Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel's secret service before he was jailed.

Israelis assume Sinwar is hiding underground somewhere in Gaza, negotiating with world powers over hostage releases.

(With inputs from agencies)