Israeli troops on Saturday hunted a Hamas commander described as the Osama bin Laden of Palestine. They promised to find him where he was hiding and insisted that his days were numbered.
Yahya Sinwar, 60, is the current head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
He was arrested by Israel several times and spent 24 years in Israeli prisons. In 2011 he was released as part of a prisoner exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Sinwar is blamed for the murder of 1,300 Israelis in the October 7 attack. The U.S. death toll rose to 29 on Saturday, with 15 missing and believed to be held hostage in Gaza.
“Yahya Sinwar is the face of evil,” said Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, an IDF spokesman.
“He is the mastermind behind it, just like bin Laden was.”
“He built his career on murdering Palestinians when he realized they were collaborators.” This is how he became known as the butcher of Khan Younis [in southern Gaza].’
Yahya Sinwar is pictured speaking at a meeting in Gaza City in April 2022. He is considered the mastermind of the terrorist attack on October 7th
Sinwar has been compared to Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader killed by US Navy SEALS in May 2011
Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, an IDF spokesman, said Sinwar was their bin Laden
Israel’s death toll has passed 1,000 as the country plots bloody revenge on the people of Gaza
Hecht said Israeli troops would not rest until he was found and killed.
“This man and his entire team are in our sights. “We will reach this man,” he said, adding: “It could take a long time.”
Sinwar was designated a terrorist by the United States in 2015.
Hecht spoke as the Israeli Air Force killed Merad Abu Merad, the head of Hamas’ airstrikes, in Gaza City.
The Israeli Air Force also struck dozens of members and facilities of Hamas’ elite Nuhba terrorist commando unit that were involved in the attack.
On Saturday, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh met with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Qatar.
Iran is a supporter of Hamas, but its direct involvement in the terrorist attack remains controversial.
It does not exercise the same operational control over Hamas as it does over Lebanon-based Hezbollah.
An image taken from Sderot shows clouds of smoke rising over buildings during an Israeli attack on the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday, as Israel bombs Gaza in preparation for a land invasion
A fireball erupts during an Israeli bombardment in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday
Troops remove the bodies of victims killed in an attack by Hamas terrorists in Kfar Aza on Tuesday
Hamas left a trail of destruction, including blood-soaked children’s beds, in a number of kibbutzes near the Gaza border
Soldiers from the IDF Lotar unit slowly check Kibbutz Kfar Aza, going from one house to another to clear them of any ammunition or threats. Here, Hamas terrorists massacred families in their homes
A house is completely destroyed after it was burned down by Hamas terrorists during the attack on Kibbutz Be’eri near the Gaza border on October 11, 2023 in Be’eri, Israel
An Israeli soldier bursts into tears when he sees a family dining table still covered with challah bread from Friday Kiddush at Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Hamas terrorists massacred families here on Saturday
Since the Hamas invasion, the bloodiest day in Israel’s 75-year history, the Israeli military says it has mobilized 360,000 reservists.
On Saturday, two US sources told CNN that a second strike group of aircraft carriers is moving to the region after the first – led by the USS Gerald R. Ford – arrived off the coast of Israel earlier this week.
The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower strike group will join the Ford after it changed its plans to turn to U.S. European Command and deploy to the Middle East instead, leaving its base in Norfolk, Virginia, on Friday.
The US warships are not intended to join the fighting in Gaza or Israeli operations, Pentagon officials emphasize.
But the presence of two of the Navy’s most powerful ships is intended to send a deterrent message to Iran and its proxies in the region, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The USS Gerald R. Ford is the largest aircraft carrier in the world. It now lies off the coast of Israel
“Merkava” battle tanks gather today at a staging area at an undisclosed location along the Gaza border
At a Human Rights Campaign dinner in Washington on Saturday, President Joe Biden linked the humanitarian crisis in Gaza to various forms of hate that he said must be stopped.
“A week ago, we saw hatred manifest itself in a different way in the worst massacre of the Jewish people since the Holocaust,” Biden said, citing the 1,300 deaths in Israel and “children and grandparents kidnapped and held hostage by Hamas “.
“The humanitarian crisis in Gaza – innocent Palestinian families and the vast majority who have nothing to do with Hamas – are being used as human shields,” he said.
“We must reject hate in all forms.”
Hundreds of thousands remained trapped in Gaza, and the only viable way out – the border with Egypt – was closed.
Egypt insisted its side was open, but the Hamas-controlled side remained closed.
Wael Abu Omar, the Palestinian spokesman for the Rafah crossing, confirmed in a text message to The New York Times that the crossing was closed.
Egypt remains concerned about the persistent presence of displaced people on its territory and is concerned about the destabilizing impact on its own country, which is experiencing a severe economic crisis.
On Thursday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said Gazans must “stand firm and remain on their land.”
Jordan’s King Abdullah II warned US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at a meeting in Amman on Friday that there should be no attempt to forcibly expel Palestinians.
His wife, Queen Rania, was born in Kuwait to Palestinian refugees and grew up in the West Bank.
Ahead of an expected Israeli invasion, cars made a desperate exodus south
Palestinians who fled their homes amid Israeli attacks found refuge in a United Nations-run school in Gaza on Saturday
Rescuers take a Palestinian boy to hospital in Gaza today after an Israeli airstrike
Palestinians wait at the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt
A Palestinian family collects their possessions on Saturday and prepares to flee the impending ground offensive
Since Hamas – which controls Gaza – launched its terror attack on October 7, killing 1,300 Israelis, some 2,215 people have been killed and more than 8,714 injured in Gaza, according to Palestinian officials.
More Palestinians have been killed so far in 2023 than in 2014, when more than 2,000 people were killed in a 50-day war.
Martin Griffiths, the U.N. humanitarian chief, said he feared “the worst is yet to come” and warned that the humanitarian situation in Gaza was “rapidly becoming untenable.”
The statement added that “the past week has been a test for humanity and humanity is failing.”
The World Health Organization called Israel’s evacuation order for hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip “a death sentence for the sick and injured.”
Israel is expected to launch its ground invasion at any moment.
Daniel Hagari, Israel’s military spokesman, said the country should expect “challenging weeks” as the military operation escalates.
The goal, he said, was “the defeat of Hamas and the elimination of its leaders.”