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<div class="gmail-inner-article-top"><h1 class="gmail-">Hamas leader Sinwar 'not in Rafah' as Israel widens assault</h1><p class="gmail-">Israel has ordered more civilians to flee neighborhoods in eastern Rafah</p><div class="gmail-another-name"><p><a href="https://thecradle.co/authors/news-desk-9" style="color:rgb(164,4,4)">News Desk</a></p></div><div class="gmail-another-name" style="margin-top:16px"><p><span>MAY 11, 2024 -<font size="1"> </font></span><font size="1"><a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/hamas-leader-sinwar-not-in-rafah-as-israel-widens-assault">https://thecradle.co/articles/hamas-leader-sinwar-not-in-rafah-as-israel-widens-assault</a></font></p></div></div><div class="gmail-inner-article-img"><img src="http://thecradle-main.oss-eu-central-1.aliyuncs.com/public/articles/9bb40572-0f6f-11ef-a630-00163e02c055.webp" alt="" width="503" height="283" style="margin-right: 0px;"><span>Yahya Sinwar attends a parade in Gaza City on May 30, 2021. (Photo credit: Ashraf Amra/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)</span></div><div class="gmail-inner-article-content"><div class="gmail-row"><div class="gmail-col-md-8 gmail-col-sm-7"><div class="gmail-article-content"><span><p>Hamas
political leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, is not directing the movement's
forces from Rafah, two officials familiar with the matter <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/sinwar-not-hiding-in-rafah-officials-tell-toi-as-pm-publicly-prioritizes-idf-op-there/">told</a> <i>The Times of Israel</i> on 11 May, as the Israeli army prepares to push further into the crowded city on the Egypt-Gaza border.</p><p>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.</p><p>The two officials speaking to <i>The Times of Israel</i> 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.</p><p>On 24 April, a source within Hamas <a href="https://www.newarab.com/news/gaza-hamas-has-30-israeli-officers-sinwar-still-leading">told</a> <i>The New Arab</i> 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."</p><p>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.</p><p>"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."</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>The civilians are being told to move to an expanded designated "humanitarian zone" in the Al-Mawasi and Khan Yunis areas.</p><div class="gmail-twitter-tweet gmail-twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display:flex;max-width:550px;width:100%;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px"></div> <p style="margin-left:0px">“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.</p><p>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.</p><p>But one of the officials speaking to <i>The Times of Israel </i>said many Hamas fighters in Rafah have fled northward as Israeli threats of an invasion intensified in recent weeks.</p><p>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.</p><p>In a sign of this, the army carried out operations in the Gaza City neighborhood of Zeitoun in central Gaza this week. It also <a href="https://x.com/AvichayAdraee/status/1789171670105636971">issued</a> 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.</p><p>The <i>Times of Israel</i> <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-may-11-2024/">added</a> 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."</p></span></div></div></div></div>
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