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IDF knows where Hamas leader is, but won’t strike at him because of hostages – reports
Times of Israel ^ | 1/8/24 | Lazar Berman

Posted on 01/09/2024 6:36:41 AM PST by Uncle Miltie

Multiple sources say Israel has identified Yahya Sinwar’s hiding place, but his use of Israeli human shields is keeping military from attacking

Israel appears to know the exact location of Hamas military leader Yahya Sinwar, the ruler of the Gaza Strip and the mastermind of the October 7 terror attacks, according to multiple reports.

However, Sinwar has surrounded himself with a large number of living Israeli hostages, which is preventing the Israel Defense Forces from carrying out a strike on him, Israel Hayom reported Monday.

It followed a similar statement on Kan public radio on Sunday by former Military Intelligence head Amos Yadlin.

Jonathan Schanzer, vice president at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, DC, tweeted that he had heard similar reports from “informed people” for weeks.

“The reports coming out of Israel over the last two days echo what I have heard for a few weeks,” he told The Times of Israel. “Namely, the Israelis have a good idea where Yahya Sinwar is hiding.”

"My assumption, although not confirmed, is that he is in the tunnels under Khan Younis,” Schanzer continued. “But what I heard specifically is that he had surrounded himself with Israeli hostages. He is using them as human shields.”

The IDF did not respond to requests for comment.

Sinwar reportedly spoke to hostages in nearly unaccented Hebrew in a bid to reassure them shortly after they were dragged into Gaza during Hamas’s October 7 onslaught.

"Hello, I am Yahya Sinwar. You are the most protected here. Nothing will happen to you,” Sinwar told the group, according to Channel 12. A hostage who was present recounted the incident to family and also briefed security officials, who confirmed the story, the report said.

One of the hostages, Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, who was released from Hamas captivity in October, revealed in an interview that she met Sinwar during her time held in Gaza — and was not afraid to tell him what she thought.

“Sinwar was with us three-four days after we got there,” Lifshitz told the Davar news outlet. “I asked him how he wasn’t ashamed, to do such a thing to people who for years support peace? He didn’t answer. He was quiet.”

In recent weeks, the IDF demolished a hideout apartment belonging to Sinwar in the north of Gaza along with a large tunnel system underneath it.

The IDF regularly claims to be closing in on Sinwar but the terror chief has not been captured, robbing Israel of a major morale-boosting operational achievement.

In December, Sinwar released his first public message since October 7, claiming that the terror group was on its way to crushing the IDF, and, in a reference to Israel, saying Hamas will not submit to “the occupation’s conditions.”

Sinwar falsely claimed that the Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, had “targeted” over 5,000 Israeli soldiers and officers, and killed about third of them — that is, over 1,500.

Israel declared Hamas’s leaders “dead men walking” following Hamas’s October 7 massacre, but has yet to reach the terror group’s most senior officials in Gaza, who are believed to be sheltering inside the vast network of tunnels in the enclave while holding hostages alongside them.

Israel is believed to be behind the killing of Hamas terror chief Saleh al-Arouri in the Lebanese capital of Beirut last week, which would make him the most senior leader in the terror group to be killed by Israel in the ongoing war.

It is believed that 132 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza — not all of them alive. Four hostages were released prior to that, and one was rescued by troops. The bodies of eight hostages have also been recovered and three hostages were mistakenly killed by the military. The IDF has confirmed the deaths of 23 of those still held by Hamas, citing new intelligence and findings obtained by troops operating in Gaza.

Over 240 hostages were taken on October 7, when Hamas-led terrorists burst across the border and rampaged across southern communities, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News; Gaza; Hamas; Israel; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: hostages; sinwar
Israel has the rat leader of ham ass cornered, but can't kill him because he is committing the War Crime of surrounding himself with innocent hostages taken in another War Crime.
1 posted on 01/09/2024 6:36:41 AM PST by Uncle Miltie
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To: Uncle Miltie

Just encourages Ham-Ass leader to take hostages.


2 posted on 01/09/2024 6:45:01 AM PST by CatOwner (Don't expect anyone, even conservatives, to have your back when the SHTF in 2021 and beyond.)
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To: CatOwner

The Israeli leadership is much more civilized than I would be. They care desperately about the innocent hostages. I write off the hostages as already effectively murdered by ham ass, and would attack the ham ass leadership regardless.


3 posted on 01/09/2024 6:48:12 AM PST by Uncle Miltie (Objective: Permanently break the will of the population to ever wage war again.)
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To: Uncle Miltie

Tiny Drone........................


4 posted on 01/09/2024 6:49:05 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while l aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: CatOwner

Precisely, the message is clear rape, murder, burn, destroy but keep a handful alive to use as protection and leverage. I don’t know what the solution is here but at some point the evil bastard will be vulnerable they should drown him in pig blood.


5 posted on 01/09/2024 6:51:21 AM PST by iamgalt
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To: Uncle Miltie
I don't trust any news these days at their face value.

Israel helped create Hamas around the time of the PLO and Arafat. Like the FIB probably help create Antifah.


6 posted on 01/09/2024 6:58:13 AM PST by C210N (Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur.)
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To: C210N

Oh noes, not The Joos (TM)!


7 posted on 01/09/2024 7:10:23 AM PST by Uncle Miltie (Objective: Permanently break the will of the population to ever wage war again.)
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To: Red Badger

Shred him with a Hellfire R9X like they did Al Zawahiri.


8 posted on 01/09/2024 7:10:48 AM PST by libh8er
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To: libh8er

That missile that has sharp razor-like blades..............


9 posted on 01/09/2024 7:14:26 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while l aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: Uncle Miltie

Entebbe time.


10 posted on 01/09/2024 7:19:23 AM PST by I-ambush (From the brightest star comes the blackest hole. You had so much to offer, why didya offer your sou?)
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To: Uncle Miltie

I read this as “Once the hostages are freed, he’s dead a frickin’ fried chicken”.


11 posted on 01/09/2024 8:17:21 AM PST by FrankRizzo890
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To: Uncle Miltie

He’s a coward.


12 posted on 01/09/2024 9:07:26 AM PST by beethovenfan (The REAL Great Reset will be when Jesus returns. )
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To: FrankRizzo890

“A chicken ain’t a chicken till it’s licken’ good fried.”


13 posted on 01/09/2024 9:08:46 AM PST by beethovenfan (The REAL Great Reset will be when Jesus returns. )
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To: Uncle Miltie

I wish there was some type of gas that put people to sleep, but didn’t kill them. It would have to be forgiving in the dosage. The frustration of this situation is as bad as the Hamasses intend.


14 posted on 01/09/2024 9:51:44 AM PST by gloryblaze
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