The administrative area of Compound B at Ketziot Prison looks quite routine, almost boring. But what happened there, back in October 2011, during one chilly night, is hard to forget Ilan Burda, then commander of the prison from which the terrorists were released in the Gilad Shalit deal.
It is one o'clock in the morning, and the release of 470 prisoners in exchange for the soldier Gilad Shalit is on the agenda. At the center of the enclosure is Yahya Sinwar, a senior Hamas figure in prison, who in fact refuses to appear for questioning by an ISA representative and refuses to sign a commitment form that he will no longer engage in terrorism. Burda finds himself in a bizarre situation: he tries to explain to Sinwar that signing the document is a condition for release, but the terrorist rabbi replies: "For my part, no one will be released, I don't go to the Shin Bet and no one goes out to them."
Sinwar continued to create difficulties, demanded the release of more terrorists, refused to engage in a binding conversation with an ISA representative, and was eventually released – without the terrorists he asked to be released, but also without signing a form pledging not to engage in terrorism.
Photo: Joshua Yosef
"I'm the last man to talk to him in an Israeli prison. I told Sinwar that because of him, the deal might be canceled. He didn't care about that," recalls Burda, a retired brigadier general and former head of the IPS intelligence division who commanded five security and criminal prisons and first met Sinwar as commander of Nafha Prison in 2005.
What did Sinwar look like that night?
"He was euphoric. It was clear to them that the deal would materialize. When there are no sanctions or means of pressure against them, you have no chance. I can say that if this conversation had taken place inside the prison on a different subject, it would not have gone as it did."
After Sinwar underwent examinations by doctors from the IPS and the Red Cross, he boarded buses at six o'clock in the morning with other terrorists. "I'll never forget his face that night. His self-confidence was sky-high. His body language conveyed, 'I'll lose more.' He sat and walked with absolute confidence, he didn't count anyone."
Do you come back to this day a lot?
"All the time. I'm very angry, especially when I know where he is and what he's doing today."
* * *
Some 12 years later, everyone knows what Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza and one of the architects of the 7 October terror attacks, is doing today: hiding in Gaza, underground, and "visiting" Israeli captives kidnapped by his organization. The sentence "Hello, I'm Yahya Sinwar. You're the most protected here, nothing will happen to you," he had already managed to scorch the net and become almost a creepy and morbid tongue coin.
"He knew that the abductees would pass on this information. It shows you that he is neither afraid nor afraid, and also wants to send a message: Whoever hurts him will hurt the abductees. He uses them as human shields, not surprisingly," Borda said.
While the general public can only imagine how the abductees felt at those moments, there are those who experienced real encounters with Sinwar. Burda, as mentioned, is one of them, and so is D., a senior officer in the Israel Prison Service, who served over the years in senior command and intelligence positions in the organization, and is speaking here for the first time. D., in his 40s, has worked for more than 20 years in the Israel Prison Service, and over the years has worked with the entire senior Hamas leadership in prison. He spoke with them and got to know them deeply, including Sinwar himself, with whom he accumulated dozens of hours over the years.
GPO
"I would go to bed with them and wake up with them in the morning," he says. "The IPS is in daily contact with the prisoners, around the clock. When I got to work, I would go down to the wings, to the prisoners." As part of his job, D. was also one of the people who built the intelligence dossier around Sinwar. Some of the information and the database received about him came from D. himself. Such a file collects extensive and in-depth information about the prisoner: his character, his ways of thinking, his conduct and agenda, who are the people close to him in prison. All while carrying out complex and daily activities designed to thwart harm to prison security and harm to state security – carrying out attacks, for example.
What does his prison schedule look like?
"He would wake up at four in the morning and get ready for prayer. Sinwar maintained an agenda that included nutrition and going out to the hiking yard. In the yard, he hung out with Salah Shehadeh, for example, and other senior officials. Everything, of course, is for personal purposes – recruiting people for leadership elections, supporting people and solving personal problems."
Burda, by the way, believes Shehadeh gave Sinwar a bear hug out of fear that his actions might harm Hamas in prison. "When he went to prison in 1987, the Hamas leadership there feared his extremism, that he might harm their prison conditions. In some cases, most of the Hamas leadership was against its extremism, which Sinwar was forced to accept with submission. He had no other choice. The Hamas leadership in prison preferred a more moderate line. If in prison they let him lead whatever he wanted, we would be in a daily war with the prisoners. But today he decides, and there is really no one who can oppose his moves."
Dominant, rarely talks
D. says that Sinwar rarely spoke, especially with guards, but was also very dominant. "On a daily basis, he conducted himself like an ordinary prisoner. He continued to serve within Hamas as a security guard, and in prison he tried to continue his work as a collaborator locator within it, so that they wouldn't give us information." Thus, Borda explains, he also gained his power.
Sinwar, says D., was a very religious man, devout in his faith. He believed he would get out of prison, and never lost hope in this matter. "He would tell me, 'I'll be released, and you don't decide what will happen, Allah will determine what will happen.' He also told me, 'We will establish a state.' He understood that the prisoners' best interests would not be achieved by force, so he often spoke to us in personal conversations to try to promote the good of his organization."
When he enters the room, do you recognize charisma, something that threatens his presence?
"I recognized charisma and leadership, someone who could attract people. On the other hand, an extraordinarily radical person. Cold-tempered, apathetic, almost emotionless, one that works more with the head."
In prison, were the prisoners afraid of him?
Burda: "No one messed with him, nor did everyone dare to come talk to him. Those who were considered low-level in the organization did not speak to him directly, even though he went out into the yard and walked around it."
A person who goes to prison and does not know the characters will quickly understand who the leader is there?
"It's very clear. You will soon understand who is against whom. In the yard, for example, you see him walking, and no one comes close."
Is there an event with him that is etched in your memory?
D.: "When I was a prison guard, in 1997, we searched Sinwar's room, following intelligence from the IPS and security officials. A very large package of firecrackers was seized in the room, meaning information transmitted in cipher. In practice, this is a letter on a very small page, written in tiny type.
Photo: IPS Spokesperson's Office
"When we deciphered these buggers, we got to know his character. We saw them as his personal guidance for carrying out terrorist attacks outside the prison, interrogating collaborators outside the prison, interrogating collaborators inside the prisons, and continuing security activity from inside the prison – including the intention to abduct soldiers for the purpose of releasing prisoners. That's how we figured out who we were dealing with."
"He snorted 'OK,' the message got through."
Another incident with Sinwar was in 2003, D. recalls. "Following an incident of suspected smuggling, we searched one of the prisoners from Yahya Sinwar's wing. Sinwar resented the search and asked to speak to the shift officer, who happened to be me. He was in front of me, looked me in the eye, and in a very violent manner said to me in Hebrew: 'For what they did to the prisoner, we will hurt you, the guards, and I will hurt the guards.' His rhetoric is violent, and it was very evident that he went from zero to a hundred in an instant."
How do you react?
"Over the years, we have learned to respond to forms of violent expression by prisoners. I wasn't moved by him, and I put him on the spot. I told him very assertively that if a guard was hurt, 'You will be hurt personally, and you will be hurt personally.' In prison you are in a society that has different rules and laws. Their norms are unusual. Of course, we work according to orders and procedures, and we can harm them through disciplinary prosecution, transfer to separations, and more."
What does he answer you?
"Of course he hears, filters 'OK,' and goes back to the wing. Molly is not allowed to respond. But intelligence-wise, I know that behind the scenes he is conveying the message to the Hamas leadership, and talking to them. He took my stuff seriously."
D.'s statements show the hidden and visible layers in the prisons, which are described as a kind of chess game in which the IPS tries to collapse the decisions and actions of Hamas from inside the prison. To this end, as mentioned, the IPS characterized Sinwar's character. "We came to the conclusion that he was an extremist, violent person, but one with weak points," D. emphasizes.
Explain.
"For example, he can make decisions, insist on them and go all the way with them. Even if the decision is wrong, he will not back down. He is stubborn in his position, and this weakens him. When he tried to lead a prisoners' strike over the years, he turned to intelligence officials and the prison command to get prisoners out of segregation. These prisoners spend 23 hours in a cell separated from the rest of the prisoners and are given an hour of walking outside. Usually those who were in these separations are prisoners with negative influence in the terrorist organizations – Salah Shehadeh, Saleh al-Arouri, Jihad Yagmur and, of course, Sinwar.
"He claimed that there were prisoners without danger who had been in segregation for years and asked why they weren't being taken out. We explained to him that the danger still exists, which led him to carry out a hunger strike in Hamas."
Is this a different strike from routine hunger strikes?
"That's what it's all about. His strikes were extreme, from zero to a hundred - without food, water or medicine from day one. You have to understand, usually hunger strikes start without eating, but the prisoners get drinks and salts. With him, prisoners were at risk to their lives very quickly. It shows his determination, goes all the way even when he pays a loss price, and that's a weak point."
, Photo: AP
Burda emphasizes that despite the determination of the murderer and his overt actions, "Sinwar was careful not to get his hands dirty, he tried to be in the background. In 2002, when Nafha prison commander Albert Abuhatzira and two of his subordinates were stabbed, it was an order from the Hamas leadership. We knew from intelligence that he and the leadership were behind the decision.
"He was always on the decision-making axis, and over the years he became more senior. Upon his release, he immediately became a member of Hamas' senior leadership in Gaza. When the buses arrived in Gaza with the released prisoners, they pulled out Yahya Sinwar, put him on a convoy and disappeared him from the crowd."
What do we not understand about him?
D.: "I think he's given too much credit for getting to know us. He knows us, the Israeli experience, but there is no need to get carried away. Beyond that, he's determined, but he's a human being, and he also makes quite a few mistakes."
One of the Palestinian analysts wrote about him in the past that when you talk to him, sometimes a statesman stands in front of us, and sometimes a man from the street. Do you agree?
"It's not Sinwar's character to be a statesman. He's completely military, and he said himself that if he could take off all his suits, he'd take them off."
There are those who believe that he sees himself as a spiritual figure, someone whom God chose to exterminate the Jews.
Burda: "I agree, so maybe that's why he has no problem dying today. He did his job, and what happened on 7 October placed him in the history of Hamas and the Palestinians. This is true even if Hamas in Gaza is destroyed."
Isn't he afraid for his life?
"I don't think he's afraid. He has no problem sacrificing those who need to, including himself."
"Get them out, good or bad"
So how do you break and undermine a person who supposedly is not afraid for his life? Borda says this can only be done through force. "If he knows that because of your power and the sanctions you impose he will not achieve his goals, he can reach a compromise or an agreement. The greater the means of pressure on Sinwar and Hamas, the greater the chance of achieving the goals against them."
D. agrees and adds: "You have to know how to speak to him in his language. When he understands that a person has powers and powers in front of him, he will not play with it. When Sinwar and the leadership tried to lead hunger strikes, we told them that they would pay a heavy price, and that he would be the first to pay a heavy price, namely separations and restrictions on movement. The message to him was unequivocal: If you break rules in prison and lead an unjust protest, because administrative detainees were arrested for planning to commit crime, you will pay."
Did it work?
"In that case, the Hamas leadership retracted its decision to lead a hunger strike, because it understood the implications. If you talk to him fur, he takes it in his own direction. In general, I can say that when we put Hamas prisoners in segregation, he came to speak and we saw him go out of his way. He got angry, as if we had hurt his soul. When you bring a Hamas leader into separations, it's like you're cutting off their hand."
From D.'s statements, it can be assumed that Sinwar did not remain indifferent to attacks on Hamas leaders, whether separations or assassinations. "The prisoners are important to him, as mentioned. Upon his release from prison, he went to Hassan Salameh's house and promised his mother that he would release her son. He also gave assurances to the prisoners about their future release. They believed him, but when they saw that nothing was happening for a while, they started calling him a liar. It brought him down, he had a terrible feeling as if he had betrayed them. For him, it was an insult that he didn't keep his word."
"Before the Shalit deal," Burda recalls, "he started the struggle to free prisoners from separation, and he told us like this: 'You will get them out – either for better or for worse.'
His commitment to releasing prisoners, of course, comes as no surprise to those who knew him. For Burda, for example, October 7, and the attempt to free security prisoners from Israeli prisons was only a matter of time. "This is Hamas' charter and this is Sinwar. The Hamas charter has two main elements that are relevant to Israel: to destroy the State of Israel, and to kill those who do not live according to Sharia law. I also think he took into account that Gaza would be wiped out. He doesn't care."
In 2017, sources in the defense establishment said that he might lead unexpected moves, that he was in a messianic mindset. I guess this description is not foreign to you.
"That's exactly him. As I said, the Hamas leadership also feared that it would get out of control. By the way, I am sure that Hamas has a lot of internal criticism of the organization after October 7. I'm not sure everyone agrees with what happened there."
In the absence of a leadership that can challenge him, can countries like Egypt or Qatar, for example, as we saw last weekend when the prisoner deal was promoted, influence him?
"I think so, but in the end what interests him is his interests. He'll do whatever he has to do, including lying, agreeing to things he doesn't want – as long as it's in his long-term interests."
In conclusion, I must ask a general question: Is there tension in prisons today?
D.: "It is important to remember that prisons are a microcosm of what happens outside. Similar things are happening inside the prisons, on different levels, in doses and on other issues, in parallel with what is happening to Hamas outside. A lot of luxuries have been lowered for the prisoners, and the conditions are not exactly the same as they were in the past, they have been reduced and worsened. Today we are on operational alert vis-à-vis the security prisoners. They are closed most of the day, they have nothing in the cubicles, except mattress, bedding and clothes. This leads to an increase in tension, and we see operational vigilance on the part of the guards."
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