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IDF Said to Know Where Hamas Leader Is, Won’t Strike Because He’s Surrounded Himself With Israeli Hostages
IDF soldiers in the home of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar. Photo: Israel’s Arabic X/Twitter account
Israel is aware of the exact whereabouts of Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’ chief in Gaza, but is refraining from carrying out a military strike because the terror leader has surrounded himself with dozens of hostages as human shields, Israeli media reported on Monday.
Former Israeli military intelligence head Amos Yadlin told Israel’s public radio, Kan, that Sinwar’s location, in the tunnels under Khan Younis in southern Gaza, was known but that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) was holding back from taking action because of his use of the hostages as human shields.
This report was further corroborated by Jonathan Schanzer, vice president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank in Washington, DC, who tweeted about consistent reports he’s heard from “informed people.”
“The Israeli leadership is in an impossible bind: take out Sinwar and potentially strike the most serious blow to Hamas since the war began, but kill hostages they vowed to rescue,” he wrote on X/Twitter.
I have heard this several times from informed people in Israel for a few weeks now.
The Israeli leadership is in an impossible bind: take out Sinwar and potentially strike the most serious blow to Hamas since the war began, but kill hostages they vowed to rescue. https://t.co/U63QymDe0Z
— Jonathan Schanzer (@JSchanzer) January 7, 2024
The IDF recently targeted Sinwar’s hideout and a connected tunnel system in Gaza, but despite ongoing efforts, Sinwar himself remains at large.
Earlier this week, photos were posted on Israel’s official Arabic language X/Twitter account of IDF soldiers, with their faces blurred out, in Sinwar’s home, under the caption: “We’re in your house Sinwar, but where is the coffee? This is how you receive guests?”
Another image shows an IDF soldier, sitting on a sofa allegedly in the living room of the Hamas leader’s house with the Israeli flag hanging on the wall behind him and the inscription: “In memory of Emanuel Falka,” an IDF soldier killed in Gaza last month.
Israeli soldier poses for photographs allegedly at the home of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/678imoXMSo
— Clash Report (@clashreport) January 7, 2024
Of the 240 people kidnapped from southern Israel by Hamas terrorists and brought to Gaza on Oct. 7, 136 hostages remain in Hamas’ custody, including 23 bodies. Over 1,200 people were also murdered that day, mostly civilians.
Hostages who were freed during the temporary Israel-Hamas truce at the end of November revealed a chilling interaction in which Sinwar, one of the masterminds of the Oct. 7 massacre, spoke to them in nearly unaccented Hebrew, promising their safety. “Hello, I am Yahya Sinwar. You are the most protected here. Nothing will happen to you,” he greeted them.
Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, who was one of the first hostages to be released in October, recounted a direct encounter with Sinwar in Gaza in which she confronted the terror chief about his actions. “Sinwar was with us about three to four days after we got there,” Lifshitz said. “I asked him how he wasn’t ashamed of himself, to do such a thing to people who were advocates for peace for many years? He didn’t answer. He remained quiet.”
Hamas deputy leader Salah al-Arouri was killed in an explosion attributed to Israel in Beirut last week along with six other senior operatives. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement in the top terrorist’s death.
The post IDF Said to Know Where Hamas Leader Is, Won’t Strike Because He’s Surrounded Himself With Israeli Hostages first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.