The Washington Post reported late Monday that Israeli and American officials agree that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is still hiding in tunnels beneath Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. The report also noted the assessment that Sinwar surrounds himself with Israeli hostages - and uses them as human shields.
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Israeli, American, and Western intelligence sources told the Washington Post that a challenge even greater than uncovering Sinwar's hiding place is carrying out an operation to capture or eliminate him - in a way that, in their words, won’t endanger the hostages. The problem, said a senior Israeli official, is how to "do something" without endangering the captives.
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Yahya Sinwar, Sinwar escaping via an underground tunnel in Gaza
(Photo: AP, Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
“Sinwar can be found but killing him risks hostages' lives too. It’s not about locating him, it’s about doing something without risking the lives of the hostages,” sources told the paper.
According to the report, The U.S. is also contributing to the search after Sinwar, though cautiously so. Sources familiar with the details told the newspaper that analysts in American military intelligence agencies are helping Israel in the process of mapping out Hamas tunnels - using "powerful analytic technologies" that combine various data outputs.
The sources added that American intelligence agencies are helping Israel analyze encrypted communication and information extracted from computer hard drives, as well as processing information obtained via questioning and investigations.
According to the report, "collaboration may help the search for Sinwar" - but it noted that U.S. intelligence has no agents in the Gaza Strip itself, and that the Americans don’t aid Israel in its day-to-day operations in the Strip like locating “low-profile” Hamas terrorists and terror infrastructure.
A former Mossad official told the newspaper that Israelis don’t require the U.S.’s assistance in managing the war against Hamas in Gaza: "The question itself is offensive," he said.
Another central question regarding Sinwar is whether he continues to command Hamas forces while hiding underground.
The report noted that this question is subject to debate: a senior Israeli official who spoke with the newspaper said that Sinwar was still "making decisions" on behalf of the terror organization in the war, but also mentioned statements made by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in February - in which he cast doubt on Sinwar's ability to command Hamas’s military wing.