Hamas Defends 'Brave' Leader Israel Says Was Captured on Video Fleeing

Hamas has set out to defend allegations surrounding one of its most senior officials after he was allegedly shown traveling through tunnels in the early days of the ongoing war in Gaza in footage leaked by Israel.

The clip, published Tuesday by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), shows what appears to be a man, purported to be Hamas Political Bureau chief Yahya Sinwar, also known as Abu Ibrahim, walking through a tunnel alongside five others believed to be his wife, brother and three children.

The video was said to have been filmed in Khan Younis and dated October 10, 2023, three days after Hamas launched an unprecedented surprise attack against Israel, sparking the deadliest-ever war in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Reached for comment, Hamas spokesperson Bassem Naim told Newsweek that the group could not confirm what was published, but asserted that "targeting the movement's leadership, led by Brother Sinwar, is a declared goal by the Zionist army." As for measures to protect him, "the procedures are left to the specialists," Naeem said.

In a separate statement, Hamas accused Israel of "trying to create a negative image of Brother Abu Ibrahim and harm his role and personality."

"Let the world know: Brother Abu Ibrahim is a brave, solid and visionary national leader," Hamas said. "Brother Sinwar is a man of religion, faith, character, education and sincerity. Brother Abu Ibrahim is brave, intrepid and daring. He does not fear the occupation, its terrorism and its injustice."

If true, the video would mark the first time Sinwar has been spotted publicly since the war began. Though more than four months old, the footage comes at a time where assassinations widely attributed to Israel against senior officials of Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah movement have increased.

Born in Khan Younis in 1962 to refugees of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Sinwar became an important figure in Hamas' emergence in the 1980s, being implicated in the killings of Israeli soldiers and Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel. He was arrested in 1988 and later freed in 2011 along with more than 1,000 other Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the release of abducted IDF Corporal Gilad Shalit.

Sinwar is believed to have assumed command of Hamas' activities in the Gaza Strip in 2017 and became an influential symbol of the group's control over the Palestinian territory. Since October 7, he has also emerged as a key symbol of the group's ongoing "Al-Aqsa Flood" campaign against Israel.

"Brother Abu Ibrahim led the glorious October 7 operation that shook the occupation, covered its nose with dirt, cracked it, and brought its demise closer," Hamas said in its statement. "Therefore, Abu Ibrahim is the conqueror of the occupation and humiliates the occupation, as the world testifies."

Israel, too, has portrayed Sinwar as a central figure in the October 7 attack and as a direct conduit between Hamas and Iran. In releasing the video on Tuesday, along with additional footage claiming to show an underground compound stocked with amenities and money, the IDF also sought to paint a picture of Hamas leadership living in relatively good conditions while Gaza residents suffered above.

"The senior Hamas operatives are staying in the compound in good conditions," IDF spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Hagari said in a statement. "They have food and bathrooms, alongside safes with personal fortunes amounting to millions of NIS (Israeli new shekels) and dollars."

He also expressed the military's determination to capture Sinwar.

"One video or another is not what really matters," Hagari said. "What is important is the intelligence that will allow us to reach senior Hamas officials and the hostages. The hunt for Sinwar will not stop until we catch him, dead or alive."

This is a developing news story, and more information will be added as it becomes available.