'Gaza's Bin Laden' Yahya Sinwar disappears from radar, leaving headless Hamas in search of new terror boss, says Israel
Hamas is trying to find a new terror leader now that Yahya Sinwar has disappeared from the radar, Israel claims.
The brute – branded Bin Laden from Gaza – is being hunted by the IDF, which has promised to capture him “dead or alive”.
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Sinwar61, is feared to have been the mastermind October 7 massacre.
Israeli military leaders have done just that have vowed that their offensive must not end until the terror boss is dead.
But Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has claimed that Hamas is now frantically looking for a replacement for Sinwar, who has reportedly been unreachable for weeks.
Gallant said the group is working to figure out who would control the Gaza Strip because “Hamas' Gaza operation is unresponsive, without local leadership for dialogue, prompting outside leaders to seek a new internal head.”
He added: “Hamas does not trust its commanders, this is a very, very high profile case.
“The Hamas-Gaza station does not answer, there is no one to talk to as leadership on the ground.
“That means there is a tender for who will manage Gaza.”
Question marks linger over who could replace Sinwar, but Mohammed Deif could be the one to take over.
The one-eyed chief, known as the anonymous 'voice of war', has lurked in the shadows for years.
A man of shame, terror and anonymity; he has long haunted the Gaza Strip as commander of the al-Qassam brigades, The military wing of Hamas.
For decades, Israel has relentlessly pursued Deif as he moved in the dark, through underground tunnels and safe houses across the Gaza Strip.
Only two decade-old photos of Deif – known as “The Guest” – exist, and he has not been seen in public for decades.
The shadowy figure has been wanted by Israeli intelligence since the 1990s, when he first started founding al-Qassam Brigades.
Sinwar has since spent 22 years in an Israeli prison terrorist murder and kidnapping plans and spent every second sharpening his burning hatred for his captors.
His astonishing rise to the top of the Hamas Terror Tree emerged despite being sentenced to four life sentences in 1989 for planning the kidnapping and murder of two Israeli soldiers and the murder of four Palestinians he suspected of collaborating with Israel.
The bearded beast's life was saved for the first time when he was cured of cancer through surgery in a prison.
He was then released in 2011, along with 1,026 others, in a prisoner swap for a single Israeli soldier, a deal that has since been damned by its thousands of victims.
Israeli intelligence chiefs yesterday told how the fanatical enemy – even while in prison – killed as many as 15 Palestinians he suspected of treason, usually with a razor blade or machete.
Who is Mohammed Deif?
The ONE-eyed, wheelchair-bound maniac Mohammed Deif started from nothing but rode the waves of anger and terror to command the ruthless fighters responsible for the deaths of 1,000 Israelis.
The head of Hamas was born Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri in 1965 and grew up in a Palestinian refugee camp in Gaza.
He would later become known as the only Deif – meaning “The Guest” in Arabic – a nod to his life spent on the run, staying with sympathizers and dodging Israeli assassins and airstrikes.
Little is known about his childhood, but it was spent in the crushing Israeli-Palestinian conflict that long scarred the Middle East.
The shadowy figure has been wanted by Israeli intelligence since the 1990s, when he first started founding al-Qassam Brigades.
He is believed to have first joined Hamas in the late 1980s, hardened in his pursuit of armed resistance against Israel.
Deif began to rise in influence and power and was reportedly a close confidante of Yehya Ayyash – a bomb maker known as “the Engineer”.
The militant commander was responsible for a deadly wave of bus bombings in Israel in the 1990s until he was finally assassinated in 1996.
But the bombings continued, with Deif supposedly at the helm and determined to take revenge for the murder of his former ally.
Hundreds of Israelis were killed in suicide bombings orchestrated by the terrorist leader on buses and in cafes.
In 2002, he took over leadership of Hamas's militant wing, where he designed both their signature Qassam rocket and a matrix of underground tunnels in Gaza.
Deif has spent most of his adult life in these tunnels as Israel tries to attack him from above.
He survived numerous assassination attempts in the 2000s, escaping some with life-changing injuries.
And his jailers told how the evil genius devoted every waking moment to studying his enemy he began to map the conflict now raging in Gaza.
Coward Sinwar went into hiding after the October 7 massacre, in which more than 1,200 people were barbarically killed.
But last week Israel released images that appeared to show him fleeing into a terror tunnel with his family.
The minute-long clip features Sinwar in a tunnel under the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis, a known terrorist stronghold.
He walks behind what appears to be his wife, along with three of his children, who the IDF says are led by Sinwar's brother Ibrahim.
If the video – broadcast yesterday by the IDF – is verified, it will be the first time the Hamas chief has been seen since he went into hiding ahead of the massacre.
Sinwar has been described as Israel's most wanted man in Gaza and the Israeli army has declared him a “dead man walking”.
In December the IDF surrounded the Hamas chief's house but did not find him and it is believed that he had already fled underground.
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It comes as Hamas has been given a three-week deadline to free Israel's remaining hostages – or suffer a massacre in its only remaining stronghold.
Retired General Benny Gantz – a powerful member of Israel's war cabinet said troops would continue their feared assault on Rafah on March 10.
Gantz – tipped for success under PM fire Benjamin Netanyahu – said: “If our hostages are not home by Ramadan (March 10), the fighting will continue into the Rafah area.”
It was the first time Israeli leaders publicly discussed a timeline for an operation in the southern city, where more than half of the area's 2.3 million residents have sought refuge.
Hamas terrorists – probably also the leader Sinwar – hide among terrified civilians and an extensive tunnel network beneath the besieged city.
A growing number of countries, including Britain and Germany, have warned Israel against any offensive in the city, warning of a “humanitarian catastrophe.”
But Israeli War Cabinet member Benny Gantz has insisted the offensive will continue if the remaining hostages are released.
The former defense minister said: “The world needs to know, and Hamas leaders need to know: if our hostages are not home by Ramadan, the fighting will continue everywhere, including in the Rafah area.”
Ramadan, seen as a fasting month by Muslims worldwide, begins on March 10.
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