Israel: Army has surrounded house of Hamas leader
Hamas leader Jihia al-Sinwar is said to have recently met the kidnapped hostages, and now the Israeli army is already on his doorstep. It is unlikely that the terror leader will be found there, but Israel's president is certain that he will soon be tracked down.
According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's army has surrounded the home of the head of the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Jihia al-Sinwar could flee, Netanyahu said according to his office, "but it is only a matter of time before we find him". Sinwar's house is reportedly located in Khan Yunis. Israel's army has recently expanded its attacks in the Gaza Strip to include the largest city in the south of the sealed-off coastal strip. It is considered a Hamas stronghold.
Experts suspect that the leadership and thousands of Hamas members may be holed up in the extensive network of tunnels beneath the Gaza Strip. It recently became known that the Hamas leader is said to have met the kidnapped hostages, as ntv reporter Alexandra Callenius reported.
Sinwar was convicted by Israel in 1988 for the murder of four suspected collaborators and two Israeli soldiers. He spent more than two decades in Israeli custody. In 2011, Sinwar was released as one of more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit, who was kidnapped in the Gaza Strip. In 2017, he became the head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Since the massacre by Hamas and other groups in the Israeli border area on October 7, in which around 1,200 people were killed, Sinwar has been at the top of Israel's hit list.
Weapons cache found near hospital
Fighting also continued in the north of the Gaza Strip. According to the Israeli army, a huge weapons cache was discovered near a hospital and a school. According to the army, there were hundreds of anti-tank rounds and bazookas, dozens of anti-tank missiles, dozens of explosive devices, longer-range rockets, dozens of grenades and drones. It was "one of the largest weapons caches" that had ever been discovered in the Gaza Strip.
The weapons had been taken by the soldiers, some were being investigated further, others had been destroyed directly on site. "The entire terror infrastructure was located right next to residential buildings in the heart of the civilian population," the spokesperson wrote. "This is further proof of the cynical use of Gaza residents as human shields by the Hamas terrorist organization."
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Israel's ongoing military operation in the Gaza Strip has seen the expansion of attacks to the largest city in the area, considered a Hamas stronghold. According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the head of Hamas, Jihia al-Sinwar, is currently under surveillance, and his escape is only a matter of time before he is located. During this conflict, a significant weapons cache was discovered by the Israeli army near a hospital and a school in the north of the Gaza Strip, posing a risk to the civilian population.
Source: www.ntv.de
