'Nothing will happen to you,' Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar met Israeli hostages in a tunnel
Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar (file photo)
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar met with Israeli hostages held captive in Gaza following their abduction on October 7, local media in Israel reported Monday (Nov 27).
Sinwar spoke with them in Hebrew without an accent, and the meeting took place in an underground tunnel.
The Hamas chief assured the hostages that they “were safe with them and did not need to fear”, reported Channel 12, adding that the story has been confirmed by the Israeli security establishment.
"Hello, I am Yahya Sinwar. You are the safest here. Nothing will happen to you," he is believed to have said to the hostages, as confirmed by one of the captives released over the weekend.
Sinwar learnt Hebrew while being in prison
According to an unsourced report in Haaretz Monday, all hostages present to hear Sinwar were from Nir Oz, a kibbutz that suffered heavy losses on October 7.
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After saying these words, he departed.
Watch:Israel-Hamas truce deal extended by two more days, confirms Qatar
Sinwar acquired his fluent Hebrew skills during his time in Israeli prison, before being released in a negotiated deal with Hamas back in 2011. He returned to Gaza the same year and now is playing a crucial role in the exchange process in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
Sinwar manages contacts through Qatar, and the assessment is that he aims to stretch the duration of the truce as much as possible, Ynet News reported.
‘Intelligent man’
According to Israeli officials' estimates, he is often found alongside other high-ranking Hamas officials in tunnels or subterranean bunkers in the southern part of the Strip.
Even Israeli officials believe he is a very “intelligent person” who spent his days in prison learning as much about Israelis as he could.
“He’s a very intelligent person who invested in his intellectual development and in an in-depth understanding of Israeli society,” Betty Lahat, a former warden of Hasharon Prison and head of the Israel Prison Service’s Intelligence Department, had said last year.
He was chosen to lead Hamas in Gaza in 2017, taking over from Ismail Haniyeh.
(With inputs from agencies)