Israel likely to target Yahya Sinwar, gathers intelligence

Tel Aviv, Aug 8 (IANS) Israel intelligence is gathering maximum information from its network in Gaza on Yahya Sinwar, the newly anointed political head of the militant group, Hamas.Sources told IANS that Israel Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, a hawk among the top leadership of the country, has renewed his earlier call to eliminate Sinwar.

According to the information available, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Gallant met Mossad Chief David Barnea and Shin Bet Chief Ronan Bar and apprised them of the urgency to eliminate Sinwar at the earliest.It may be recalled that Defence Minister Gallant had publicly called for the assassination of Yahya Sinwar and had said that the Israeli establishment would hunt down the dreaded Hamas leader at any cost.

The spokesperson of Israel Defense Forces (IDF ), Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari in a press statement after Sinwar was announced as the political head by Hamas said, "Yahya Sinwar is a terrorist, who is responsible for the most brutal terrorist attack in history -- October 7th. There is only one place for Yahya Sinwar, and it is beside Mohammed Deif and the rest of the October 7th terrorists. That is the only place we’re preparing and intending for him.”

Israel had on August 1 publicly announced that it had killed Mohammed Deif, the military head of Hamas, and the statement of Hagari is a clear message that Israel will not rest till it eliminates Sinwar.

Sinwar, according to Israel is the man behind the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that led to the murder of 1,200 Israelis and kidnapping of 251 people who were taken as hostages into Gaza. Of the kidnapped, 111 hostages are still in Gaza. The mortal remains of 39 hostages have also not been handed over.

Israel intelligence agencies have already reported that Yahya Sinwar was hiding in an underground tunnel network in either the Khan Younis area or the Rafah area and is surrounded by Israeli hostages.

Meanwhile, Israel has stepped up its defence systems for a probable Iranian attack following the killing of Hamas political head Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and that of Hezbollah military head Fuad Shukr in Beirut on August 1.

After the two back-to-back killings of the top leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah, Iran has been mulling retaliation against Israel.

However, Iran International has reported that the Iranian President, Masoud Pezeshkian met their supreme leader Ali Khamenei and apprised him that an attack on Israel would have a retaliation that could cripple the country's economy.