Hamas leader in Gaza defiantly says the Strip will “never submit” to Israel

The leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the true shadow power of the Islamic group, Yahya Sinwar, said today in his first public message since the beginning of the war that It is a “fierce, violent and unprecedented battle” against Israel.

“The Al Qasam Brigades will destroy the occupation army, they are on their way to crushing it will not submit to the conditions of employment“Sinwar said in a message broadcast on Hamas channels.

Sinwar, who Israel says is hiding in the enclave’s underground tunnel network, Israeli troops said “They are suffering great losses in terms of life and equipment.”

According to him, the Al Qasam Brigades attacked around 5,000 Israeli soldiers, “a third of them died, another third was seriously injured and the final third permanently disabled,” as well as destroying 750 military vehicles.

The figures offered by Sinwar are far from the official Israeli army casualty count, which confirmed 156 dead soldiers since the ground offensive in the Strip began on October 27; as well as another 333 during the brutal Hamas attack on Israeli soil on October 7 and in the clashes of the following days.

Sinwar’s message is the first from the Islamist leader since the start of the war after the October 7 attack. of the one who is considered the master brain and planner, and this resulted in more than 1,200 deaths and 240 kidnappings.

The Israeli military offensive is now focused on Khan Younis, a Hamas military stronghold in the south of the Strip and Sinwar’s hometown, whose capture is one of the priorities of Israeli troops.

According to intelligence information leaked to Jewish media last week, the army He thought he was going to hunt him down in the tunnels in the Khan Yunis area twice in recent weeks, but Sinwar, who is supposed to be constantly on the move, managed to escape.

“It’s only a matter of time before we find him,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on December 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-exile in Qatar for more than a decade, but he is considered the person who really controls the group’s important decisions. , be the one who governs within the Stripboth the political and military arms.

In reality, 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 calling for a permanent ceasefire to return the more than 120 hostages remaining inside the enclave.

The parties are now studying a new proposal from Egypt for a two-week truce, which could become a permanent ceasefire Hamas accepts a technocratic Palestinian government taking control of Gaza and release all Israeli hostages in exchange for the release of some Palestinian prisoners.

Intense Israeli bombing in a two and a half month offensive has caused the deaths of at least 20,400 Gazans – 70% civilians, including more than 8,000 children – and injured over 54,000 people; as well as 7,500 bodies estimated to have remained under the rubble, according to the latest count by the Ministry of Health.