Hamas leader Sinwar reportedly satisfied with course of war, confident civilian deaths will force stop
Sinwar sent upbeat message to Hamas leadership earlier this month
Despite Israel’s steady progress over four months of fighting in the Gaza Strip, the leader of the terror organization Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, is still confident that his group will win the war, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
When senior members of Hamas leadership based outside of the Strip met in Qatar last month, a message arrived from the leader of Hamas in Gaza, according to WSJ.
The fighters of the al-Qassam brigades, Hamas’ military arm, are doing just fine and we're prepared to face Israel’s expected ground offensive into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, the message read.
Sinwar was also confident that the mounting civilian casualties resulting from the war would eventually lead to international pressure to the extent that Israel would be forced to stop the war.
His strategy appears to be having Hamas operatives weather the storm in their underground hideouts until Israel is globally pushed into a ceasefire, a scenario that has consistently unfolded in the past.
Such a plan would allow Sinwar and the remaining Hamas leadership to then heroically emerge from the destruction to declare victory over Israel.
Evidence of this strategy can be seen in the way that Hamas has changed tactics since the truce last November, according to the WSJ.
The terrorists hardly engage in any large-scale operations anymore, which has already cost them a high price in casualties. Instead, Hamas has switched to guerilla tactics, pin-pricking the Israeli troops before fleeing into their underground networks.
Israel has been hunting for Sinwar, combing through the tunnels to find the mastermind of the Oct. 7 massacre on Israeli border communities.
Israel Defense Forces allegedly nearly captured Sinwar on two occasions during the ongoing military operations in Gaza.
Israel also dismissed recent reports that Sinwar had fled Gaza to the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula via the Rafah tunnel network.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant recently claimed that “Hamas is looking for a replacement for Sinwar.”
According to Gallant, “Hamas’ Gaza branch is not responding. There is no one to talk to as leadership on the ground and the external leadership is looking for internal leadership. I mean, there is a search for who will manage Gaza, there is no party that is controlling [Gaza] and no party that is working."
The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.
