In line with the IDF, the one-minute-long clip exhibits Sinwar along with his household.

New Delhi:

The Israel Protection Forces (IDF) launched footage on Tuesday, claiming to have recognized Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar strolling via a Gaza tunnel along with his relations. If confirmed, this marks the primary sighting of Sinwar since he went into hiding forward of Hamas’s October 7 onslaught on Israel.

In line with the IDF, the one-minute-long clip exhibits Sinwar in a tunnel beneath the southern Gaza metropolis of Khan Younis, accompanied by his spouse and three youngsters, led by his brother Ibrahim. Regardless of his again going through the digital camera, the IDF claims to have recognized Sinwar utilizing synthetic intelligence and noting distinctive options, akin to the dimensions of the determine’s ears.

“Hamas leaders, wherever they’re hiding, ought to know they’re on borrowed time.”

Watch the complete assertion by IDF Spokesperson RAdm. Daniel Hagari: pic.twitter.com/iyh2pPlFuA

— Israel Protection Forces (@IDF) February 14, 2024

Sinwar, 61, is a former commander of Hamas’s Ezzdine al-Qassam Brigades and was elected in 2017 because the Palestinian group’s head. He has spent 23 years in Israeli jails earlier than his launch in 2011 in a prisoner trade involving French-Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit who was held captive by Hamas.

The video, retrieved from Hamas surveillance footage just lately obtained by IDF troops, exhibits Sinwar showing wholesome and carrying a bag whereas his daughter holds a doll. The IDF claims that the footage was taken from tunnels that connect with areas the place hostages had been held, and it was a part of a broader community utilized by senior Hamas officers through the latest battle.

IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari in a press convention stated, “One video or one other just isn’t what actually issues. What’s necessary is the intelligence that may enable us to succeed in senior Hamas officers and the hostages. The hunt for Sinwar won’t cease till we catch him, lifeless or alive.”

Hagari additionally claimed that earlier this month, Israeli troops detained shut family members of senior Hamas army commanders, together with Sinwar. Amongst these detained had been the daddy of Rafa’a Salameh, the commander of Hamas’s Rafah Brigade, and the son of Husni Hamdan, one other senior Hamas commander.

The IDF carried out raids within the tunnel community seen within the October 10 footage, located beneath a cemetery within the Bani Suheila space of Khan Younis. In line with Hagari, the tunnels contained bedrooms of senior Hamas officers and the workplace of the commander of the Khan Younis Brigade’s Jap Battalion, who directed the October 7 assault.