Sinwar’s 2023 Attack on Israel during the 2023 Re-Convention on Non-Standard Relations in Hamas
Sinwar was seen as a hard-liner within Hamas, less likely to reach a ceasefire deal with Israel than other more pragmatic leaders. He was thought to have directed operations from the group’s extensive tunnel network in the Gaza Strip, which he used to communicate with the outside world to avoid Israeli air strikes that have killed thousands of Palestinians in the besieged coastal enclave.
He was appointed the leader of the entire group after his predecessor was killed in an explosion. The Israeli military also said it had killed the head of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, in an airstrike in July. The deputy political chief of Hamas was killed by an Israeli bombing in Lebanon.
The military says three people were killed in a building and that the Shin Bet is looking into whether one of them is the leader of Hamas.
The military says there were no signs of Israeli hostages in the area of the building where the three militants were killed and that troops are operating in the area with “caution.”
Many Israelis worried that a pause in fighting would help Hamas fighters regroup, and leave more time for international pressure to mount against Israel resuming its military assault. After Hamas offered to release some hostages, Israel renewed combat in Gaza.
During that time in late November 2023, both sides agreed to a temporary cease-fire in the war. Israel extended the cease-fire another day and freed 30 Palestinian prisoners and hostages for every 10 freed by Hamas.
Sinwar’s strategy for the attack was similar to the one that saw Palestinian prisoners released in return for a single Israeli captive soldier, according to David Meidan, an Israeli negotiator who was involved in the 2011 exchange.
The War Between Israel and the Gaza Strip: The Contribution of Sinwar to the U.S. Security Forces in Gaza and a Holocaust Implication to Israel
In response, Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 42,400 Palestinians and injured more than 99,000, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Israel’s society, including the country’s political and military elites, were shocked when Hamas fighters invaded the border and killed more than 1,000 people and took over at least 250 captives.
“I don’t know. I thought we had a good idea of what Sinwar’s thinking was, and this was not correct, told Hulata.
Israel’s permit for workers from Gaza increased in numbers while fighting between Gaza and Israel ceased. The number of work permits Israel granted Gaza laborers, before the current war, surpassed 8,000.
During this time, Hamas encouraged violent protests along the Israeli border fence. He said it was a strategy that he learned from his hunger strikes when he was in an Israeli prison.
“Your presence for us is a big accomplishment and asset for our people and our cause,” he told visiting reporters at a 2018 press conference in Gaza City that lasted two hours.
In 2006 an Israeli soldier was captured by Hamas and held in Gaza for five years. The man who guarded the captive soldier was none other than Sinwar’s own brother, Mohammed.
Sinwar had a small team of spies who would help him catch prisoners who were preparing to attack Israel, and new prisoners who were being recruited by Israel.
The assassination of Sinwar in Gaza fulfilled a promise made last year by Israeli leaders who promised to avenge the wave of killings and hostages that devastated Israel a year ago.
He was convicted of playing a role in the killing of Israelis and sentenced to four life sentences in Israel.
But his role during repeated rounds of on-again, off-again cease-fire talks between Hamas and Israel — brokered by the United States, Egypt and Qatar — provided him with significant influence, as he continued trying to outmaneuver Israel, and survive.
