Israel vows to kill Hamas mastermind behind October 7 attacks dubbed ‘Gaza’s Bin Laden’
ISRAEL has vowed to find and kill Yahya Sinwar — the Hamas mastermind of the October 7 attacks who has been dubbed “Gaza’s Bin Laden”.
Sinwar, 61, is suspected to be hiding out in a Hamas command and control centre beneath a Gaza Strip hospital.
Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described him as acting like a “little Hitler in a bunker,” adding: “He has no care for his people.”
And Israel Defence Forces spokesman Lt Col Richard Hecht compared him to al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden for his role in the Hamas atrocities.
Lt Col Hecht said: “Yahya Sinwar is the face of evil. He is the mastermind behind this, like Bin Laden was [with the 9/11 US attacks].”
The Israelis urged Gazans to kill or hand over the bogeyman themselves as this would “hasten the end to the war”.
The founder of Hamas’s military wing and its intelligence service, Sinwar has been the leader of the terror group in Gaza since 2017.
As the IDF launched its hunt for him following last month’s killings by Hamas in Israel, it released an earlier video of him telling supporters: “From us here in Gaza they will never get anything but guns and fire. They will never get anything but death and killing.”
Born in a refugee camp, Sinwar was captured and sentenced to 426 years in prison in 1989 for the murder of two Israeli soldiers.
He was the most high-profile of more than 1,000 terror prisoners released in a 2011 swap deal to secure the release of one kidnapped Israeli soldier.
Nearly 300 were serving life terms for attacks on Israel and many are thought to have been involved in the massacre by Hamas which was planned by Sinwar.
His location is a closely guarded secret but he could be in the terror group’s main Gaza base beneath the Al-Shifa hospital, from where the attacks were masterminded.
The IDF has already killed Hamas’s deputy head of intelligence who helped plan the attacks and have vowed to eliminate Sinwar.
Hamas threat
Israel Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said: “At the end of the war there will no longer be Hamas.”
He added: “Twelve Hamas battalion commanders have been killed and we will reach them all, and all the terrorists in the field.
“The Hamas leadership is responsible. We will get to that leadership. We will get to Yahya Sinwar and eliminate him. If the residents of Gaza get there ahead of us, that will shorten the war.”
Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited Israel yesterday to show his support for the country.
Mr Johnson described the Hamas atrocities as “the worst massacre of Jewish people that we’ve seen since the Second World War”.
He added: “It is absolutely vital that we who believe in Israel should do everything we can to show our support in the face of cruel, inhumane attacks on innocent people. Israel has the right to defend itself.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken continued his whistle-stop tour of the Middle East, making an unannounced visit to the West Bank which has been ravaged with violence since the war began.
More than 140 Palestinians have been killed there in daily clashes with Israeli police and troops.
He met with Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, which governs large parts of the West Bank, and the pair discussed efforts to “restore calm and stability” in the region.
Mr Blinken then headed to Cyprus and from there will travel to Turkey — which has been critical of Israel’s response to the Hamas massacre.
Ceasefire calls
Pope Francis has called for a ceasefire and for the release of the 242 hostages held by Hamas.
Posting on X to his 18.7 million followers, he said: “I continue to think about the serious situation in Palestine and in Israel where many, many people have lost their lives.
“In God’s name, I beg you to stop — cease using weapons.
“I hope avenues will be pursued so that an escalation of the conflict might be absolutely avoided. Let the hostages be freed immediately. Let’s think of the children, of all the children affected by this war.”
But Mr Netanyahu again dismissed the idea of a hold-up until the hostages are released.
He said: “There will be no ceasefire without the return of the hostages.”
One Israeli junior minister was suspended after saying dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza was “one of the possibilities” in the war.
Amihai Eliyahu made the claim in a radio interview but later backtracked, saying that “anyone reasonable would understand that the comment was metaphorical”.
The Hamas-run Ministry of Health claims nearly 10,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war.
Around 1,400 Israelis were butchered in the Hamas terror attack.
Gun sales soaring
By Robin Perrie
GUN sales in Israel are soaring as families arm themselves against another terror massacre.
Shooting ranges are packed as people sign up for courses that qualify them to carry a sidearm.
And applications for gun licences have rocketed 1,500 per cent to 150,000 since the October 7 Hamas attack killed 1,400.
I visited a gun shop in the Israeli-occupied West Bank where 16 weapons were on display.
Prices started at £600 and rose to £1,200 for a Heckler & Koch P30 semi-automatic handgun.
The shop’s owner Yair Yaifrach, 58, said he is the busiest he has ever been in his 24 years there.
I watched a stream of customers buy guns, ammo and £500 bulletproof vests.
Mr Yaifrach said: “People are scared and want to protect their families.”
Prospective gun owners being trained at a range included politician Limor Son Har-Melech, 44.
She bears the scar of a terror attack 20 years ago in which her husband was shot dead.
She said: “Civilians need to be armed. Every woman needs to take responsibility to protect their family. That means knowing how to fire a gun.”