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COWARDLY Hamas boss Yahya Sinwar may have fled to Egypt after being warned he will be caught “dead or alive”, Israel fears.
Security officials believe the spineless terror chief may have taken the remaining hostages with him to use as human shields as the net closes in.
AFP
Israel Defense Forces - IDFSinwar, 61, is accused of being the “mastermind” behind the barbaric October 7 bloodbath.
Footage published by the IDF last week appeared to show Sinwar- branded “Gaza’s bin Laden” fleeing in a terror tunnel flanked by his young children.
Israeli security officials now believe he and his brother Mohammed may have crossed from Rafah into Egypt, potentially with hostages still captive, Saudi newspaper Elaph reported.
But claims have been denied by an unnamed Israeli official, who told the Times of Israel: “We do not know the information that was published.”
Reports of Sinwar fleeing Gaza come after it was claimed Hamas is scrambling to find a new terror leader as the chief has dropped off the radar.
Defence minister Yoav Gallant said Hamas is frantically looking for a replacement for Sinwar, who is said to have been uncontactable for weeks.
Gallant said the group is working out who would control the Gaza Strip as “Hamas’ Gaza operation is unresponsive, without local leadership for dialogue, prompting external leaders to seek a new internal head”.
He added: “Hamas does not trust its commanders, this is a very, very noticeable thing.
“The Hamas-Gaza station does not answer, there is no one to talk to as leadership on the ground.
“That means there is a tender for who will manage Gaza.”
Israel previously vowed to find and kill Sinwar.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described him as acting like a “little Hitler in a bunker,” adding: “He has no care for his people.
And Israel Defence Forces spokesman Lt Col Richard Hecht compared him to al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden for his role in the Hamas atrocities.
Lt Col Hecht said: “Yahya Sinwar is the face of evil. He is the mastermind behind this, like Bin Laden was [with the 9/11 US attacks].”
The Israelis urged Gazans to kill or hand over the bogeyman themselves as this would “hasten the end to the war”.
Fears Sinwar has fled Rafah come after Hamas was set a three week deadline to free Israel’s remaining hostages – or face a bloodbath in its only remaining stronghold.
Retired general Benny Gantz – a powerful member of Israel‘s war cabinet – said troops would press on with their dreaded assault into Rafah on March 10.
Who is Yahya Sinwar?
YAHYA Sinwar spent 22 years in an Israeli prison for terrorist murder and kidnap plots and spent every second honing his burning hatred for his captors.
His astonishing rise to the top of the Hamas terror tree came despite being sentenced to four life sentences in 1989 for planning the abduction and killing of two Israeli soldiers and the murder of four Palestinians he suspected of working with Israel.
The bearded beast’s life was first saved when he was cured of cancer by an operation in a prison.
Then in 2011 he was freed, among 1,026 others, in a prisoner exchange for a single Israeli soldier in a deal that has been damned by his thousands of victims ever since.
Israeli intelligence chiefs told how — even while in prison — the fanatical fiend killed as many as 15 Palestinians he suspected of treachery, usually with a razor blade or machete.
And his jailers told how the evil genius dedicated his every waking moment to studying his enemy as he began plotting the conflict now raging in Gaza.
Coward Sinwar went into hiding following the October 7 massacre, where more than 1,200 people were barbarically killed.
Gantz – tipped to success under-fire PM Benjamin Netanyahu – said: “If by Ramadan (Mar 10) our hostages are not home, the fighting will continue to the Rafah area.”
It was the first time Israel’s leaders have publicly discussed a timeline for an operation in the southern city, where more than half the territory’s 2.3 million people have sought refuge.
A growing number of nations, including the UK and Germany, have warned Israel against any offensive in the city, warning of a “humanitarian catastrophe”.
But Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz has insisted the offensive will go ahead if the remaining hostages are let go.
The former defence minister said: “The world must know, and Hamas leaders must know – if by Ramadan our hostages are not home, the fighting will continue everywhere, to include the Rafah area.”
Ramadan, observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting, begins on March 10.
Israel Defense Forces - IDF
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