The head of Islamic Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, reportedly visited Israeli hostages after they were kidnapped in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli television reported this on Monday, citing a freed hostage. The unidentified woman said the visit took place in an underground tunnel in the first few days after the Oct. 7 kidnapping. The visitor introduced himself as Sinwar and spoke Hebrew.
“You are safer here, nothing will happen to you,” he said. The report cannot be independently verified. Sinwar was convicted by Israel in 1988 of the murder of four alleged collaborators and two Israeli soldiers. He spent more than two decades in Israeli custody and learned Hebrew during that time. In 2011, Sinwar was one of more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners released in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. In 2017 he became head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Sinar has been at the top of Israel’s hit list since the massacre carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other groups in the Israeli border area last month, in which around 1,200 people were killed.