The leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the real shadow power of the Islamist group, Yahya Sinwar, said today in his first public message since the war began that this is a "ferocious, violent and unprecedented battle" against Israel.
"The al-Qassam Brigades will destroy the occupation army, they are on their way to crushing it and will not submit to the conditions of the occupation," Sinwar said in a message broadcast on Hamas channels.
Sinwar, who Israel assumes is hiding in the enclave's network of underground tunnels, said Israeli troops "are suffering great losses in lives and equipment."
He said the al-Qassam Brigades attacked some 5,000 Israeli soldiers, "a third of them were killed, another third were seriously wounded and the last third were permanently disabled," in addition to destroying 750 military vehicles.
Sinwar's message is the Islamist leader's first since the war began following the Oct. 7 attack. Photo: Reuters
The figures offered by Sinwar are far from the official casualty count of the Israeli army, which has confirmed 156 soldiers killed since the ground offensive in the Strip began on October 27; in addition to another 333 during Hamas' brutal attack on Israeli soil on October 7 and in the fighting of the following days.
Sinwar's message is the first from the Islamist leader since the war began after the Oct. 7 attack, of which he is considered the main mastermind and planner, which left more than 1,200 dead and 240 kidnapped.
The Israeli military offensive is now focused on Khan Younis, Hamas' military stronghold in the southern Gaza Strip and the city where Sinwar was born, whose capture is one of the priorities of Israeli troops.
According to intelligence leaked to Hebrew media last week, the army has believed it was about to hunt him down in the tunnels of the Khan Younis area twice in recent weeks, but Sinwar, who is supposed to be on the move, managed to escape.
"It's only a matter of time before we find him," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Dec. 6, when Israeli troops surrounded Sinwar's residence in Khan Younis, although they found no trace of him.
Sinwar is technically the group's "number two," behind Hamas' political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Qatar for more than a decade, but he is considered to be the person who really controls the group's important decisions, ruling within the Strip, both the political and military wings.
In fact, according to several sources close to the negotiations, it is Sinwar who has the final say in talks to reach a truce agreement or exchange of hostages for prisoners, which failed in Cairo last week.
Haniyeh returned to Doha from Cairo after new negotiations broke down last week over Hamas, which is demanding a permanent ceasefire to return its more than 120 remaining hostages inside the enclave.
The sides are now considering a new Egyptian proposal for a two-week truce, which could turn into a permanent ceasefire, if Hamas agrees to allow a technocratic Palestinian government to take control of Gaza and release all Israeli hostages in exchange for the release of some Palestinian prisoners.
Intense Israeli bombardment in two and a half months of offensive has claimed the lives of at least 20,400 Gazans - seventy percent civilians, including more than 8,000 children - and caused more than 54,000 injuries; in addition to 7,500 bodies that are estimated to be trapped under the rubble, according to the latest count by the Ministry of Health.
Source: EFE and AP
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