[News] Hamas leader Sinwar 'not in Rafah' as Israel widens assault

[Anti-Imperialist News]

 Hamas leader Sinwar 'not in Rafah' as Israel widens assault

Israel has ordered more civilians to flee neighborhoods in eastern Rafah

News Desk <https://thecradle.co/authors/news-desk-9>

MAY 11, 2024 -
https://thecradle.co/articles/hamas-leader-sinwar-not-in-rafah-as-israel-widens-assault
Yahya Sinwar attends a parade in Gaza City on May 30, 2021. (Photo credit:
Ashraf Amra/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Hamas political leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, is not directing the
movement's forces from Rafah, two officials familiar with the matter told
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/sinwar-not-hiding-in-rafah-officials-tell-toi-as-pm-publicly-prioritizes-idf-op-there/>
 *The Times of Israel* on 11 May, as the Israeli army prepares to push
further into the crowded city on the Egypt-Gaza border.

After seven months of war and occupation in Gaza, the Israeli military has
not been able to kill or capture Sinwar or the leader of Hamas' military
wing, Mohammed Deif, despite repeated claims by Israeli officials that the
army was near capturing them.

The two officials speaking to *The Times of Israel* cited recent
intelligence assessments claiming Sinwar is hiding in underground tunnels
in the city of Khan Yunis, five miles north of Rafah. A third official who
is Israeli claimed that Sinwar is still in Gaza.

On 24 April, a source within Hamas told
<https://www.newarab.com/news/gaza-hamas-has-30-israeli-officers-sinwar-still-leading>
 *The New Arab* that Sinwar is "effectively leading the movement on the
ground," dismissing Israeli claims that Sinwar is hiding in the tunnel
networks, which the source said were "attempts by Netanyahu and his cohorts
to obfuscate their failure in achieving stated objectives before the
Israeli populace and allies."

Sinwar "recently inspected areas that witnessed clashes between the
resistance and the occupation army and met with some fighters of the
movement above ground and not in the tunnels," he added.

"In recent discussions between the leadership of the movement internally
and externally, Sinwar briefed the external leadership of the movement on
the situation of the resistance in the Strip and affirmed, through precise
field data, the strength of the resistance's position, its resilience, and
its ability to confront the forces of the occupation."

On Monday, Israel launched its long-anticipated ground offensive in Rafah
and took over the border crossing with Egypt. This is preventing aid from
entering Gaza and blocking any further people, including the injured, from
escaping the war to Egypt.

On Saturday, the army issued orders for Palestinians to evacuate several
additional neighborhoods in eastern Rafah, including the Rafah and Shaboura
camps and the neighborhoods of Jeneina and Khirbat al-Adas.

The civilians are being told to move to an expanded designated
"humanitarian zone" in the Al-Mawasi and Khan Yunis areas.

“We live in constant terror and fear of repeated displacement and
invasion,” said Nidaa Safi, 30, who previously fled Israeli bombs in
northern Gaza. to reach Rafah.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims Hamas has four of its
remaining six active battalions located in Rafah and that a ground invasion
is necessary to defeat them.

But one of the officials speaking to *The Times of Israel *said many Hamas
fighters in Rafah have fled northward as Israeli threats of an invasion
intensified in recent weeks.

At the same time, Hamas has remained resilient. Its fighters have returned
to many areas of Gaza where Israel earlier alleged it had defeated the
movement.

In a sign of this, the army carried out operations in the Gaza City
neighborhood of Zeitoun in central Gaza this week. It also issued
<https://x.com/AvichayAdraee/status/1789171670105636971> an evacuation
order for the Jabaliya area in northern Gaza on Friday ahead of new
military operations there. Civilians are being told to move to shelters
west of Gaza City.

The *Times of Israel* added
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-may-11-2024/> that security
officials are warning that the army would be "forced to continue playing
this game of cat and mouse with Hamas until the Israeli government advances
a viable alternative to Hamas rule."
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