The video published by the Israeli army does not show the face of the man claiming to be Yahya Sinwar (French)

The Israeli army published a video clip that it claimed showed the head of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, and members of his family walking inside a tunnel shortly after the launch of the Al-Aqsa Flood Battle on October 7th.

The Israeli army said that the video, which is the first of its kind since the beginning of the war, shows Sinwar “escaping” with three of his children, one of his wives, and his brother, Ibrahim Sinwar.

In a television interview yesterday evening, Tuesday, military spokesman Daniel Hagari said that the images came from a surveillance camera found during an Israeli special forces operation in an unspecified location, repeating previous threats to continue pursuing the head of the Hamas movement in Gaza until he is “arrested alive or dead.”

The footage was filmed in black and white, and does not show the face of the man whom the Israeli army claimed was Yahya Sinwar, as he was walking behind the others inside the supposed tunnel.

The occupation army publishes a video clip claiming to be of #Yahya_Al-Sanwar #Al-Jazeera_Live pic.twitter.com/fEzmb2aJIA

- Al Jazeera Live (@ajmubasher) February 13, 2024

Last week, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said that Sinwar was “fleeing from one hideout to another,” while a senior Israeli officer said that the army believed that Sinwar was in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip.

For weeks, the Israeli army has been carrying out extensive military operations, accompanied by intense bombardment, in Khan Yunis. It says that these operations aim to dismantle the military brigades affiliated with the Hamas movement in Sinwar’s hometown.

Tel Aviv says that the head of the Hamas movement in Gaza is the mastermind of the attack launched by the Hamas movement on Israel on the seventh of last October.

Late last December, Israeli Channel 12 broadcast a picture claiming to be of Muhammad al-Deif, the commander-in-chief of the Martyr Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement.

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies