Second-highest Hamas leader caught on camera running away

The Israeli military on Tuesday disclosed a video clip showing a person assumed to be Yahya Sinwar, the second-highest Hamas leader who masterminded the Palestinian armed group’s sudden attack last October, running away from an underground tunnel in the Gaza Strip. Although CNN, AFP, and other Western news outlets wrote that there is no way of identifying the person shown in the footage, if he turns out to be this marked man, it will count as the first record showing the whereabouts of Sinwar, who is believed to have hidden since the breakout of the war in the Middle East.

Since Israel launched land warfare in the Gaza Strip, its prime target has always been to remove Sinwar. The disclosure of the footage was presumably made to justify the growing ground action recently taken around Rafah, one of the hub cities in southern Gaza, amid the international community's concerns about harm to civilians.

Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari on Tuesday released a 42-second-long video showing Sinwar and his family escaping from an underground tunnel near Khan Yunis in southern Gaza. It showed his wife and three children following the lead of Sinwar's brother Ibrahim holding a flashlight. Sinwar was seen carrying a bag in his left hand in flip-flops and joining the outgoing queue at the tail.

Another video was also made public by the Israeli military, showing a hideout inside the tunnel assumed to be used by Hamas leaders, including Sinwar. The hiding place was seen equipped with a toilet, kitchen, bedrooms, and several coffers loaded with millions of dollars. Hagari reaffirmed his determination to shoot Sinwar to death, arguing that senior Hamas leaders resided in comfortable conditions and put themselves, their families, and money before everything else.


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