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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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Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi lays a wreath as he visits the burial site of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, June 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A member of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli air strike on Tehran alongside a member of an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group, a senior Lebanese security source told Reuters and the Iraqi group said on Saturday.
The source identified the Hezbollah member as Abu Ali Khalil, who had served as a bodyguard for Hezbollah’s slain chief Hassan Nasrallah. The source said Khalil had been on a religious pilgrimage to Iraq when he met up with a member of the Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada group.
They traveled together to Tehran and were both killed in an Israeli strike there, along with Khalil’s son, the senior security source said. Hezbollah has not joined in Iran’s air strikes against Israel from Lebanon.
Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada published a statement confirming that both the head of its security unit and Khalil had been killed in an Israeli strike.
Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli aerial attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs in September.
Israel and Iran have been trading strikes for nine consecutive days since Israel launched attacks on Iran, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran has said it does not seek nuclear weapons.
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Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip
Israeli soldiers operate during a ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, July 3, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), in cooperation with the General Security Service (Shin Bet), announced on Friday the killing of Ibrahim Abu Shamala, a senior financial official in Hamas’ military wing.
The operation took place on June 17th in the central Gaza Strip.
Abu Shamala held several key positions, including financial officer for Hamas’ military wing and assistant to Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’ military wing until his elimination in March 2024.
He was responsible for managing all the financial resources of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza, overseeing the planning and execution of the group’s war budget. This involved handling and smuggling millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip to fund Hamas’ military operations.
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Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 20, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei named three senior clerics as candidates to succeed him should he be killed, the New York Times reported on Saturday citing unnamed Iranian officials. It is understood the Ayatollah fears he could be assassinated in the coming days.
Khamenei reportedly mostly speaks with his commanders through a trusted aide now, suspending electronic communications.
Khamenei has designated three senior religious figures as candidates to replace him as well as choosing successors in the military chain of command in the likely event that additional senior officials be eliminated.
Earlier on Saturday Israel confirmed the elimination of Saeed Izadi and Bhanam Shahriari.
Shahriari, head of Iran’s Quds Force Weapons Transfer Unit, responsible for arming Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, was killed in an Israeli airstrike over 1,000 km from Israel in western Iran.
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