“It was a sophisticated misinformation campaign deceiving Israel into believing they were seeking peace, workers, and economic life for Gaza residents.”ĪLSO READ: What are Israel’s mixed-gender units? What’s their role in Israel-Hamas war? “Hamas and Sinwar misled Israel and made it think war wasn’t an option for Hamas,” Akram Atallah, a Gaza-based columnist for the West Bank newspaper Al Ayyam, told Bloomberg. Israeli security officials believe it was some of these workers who drew maps of the Israeli communities and created lists of local families to direct the Hamas militants in the 7 October attack.

Sinwar became the head of Hamas’ political bureau in the Gaza Strip in 2017, reported BBC.Īs per a report in Bloomberg, he worked along with the Palestinian Authority to secure Israeli work permits for about 18,000 Gazans, who worked as day labourers in the West Asian nation. In 2015, the United States put him on its list of “international terrorists”, saying he is “known for his role in founding the forerunner of the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas”.

After his release, he rose through ranks in Hamas, especially the group’s military wing, noted NDTV. Israeli officials had not rejected his name being on the list thinking he was not a “threat”, reported Bloomberg. Sinwar was among the 1,027 Palestinian and Israeli Arab prisoners freed in 2011 by Israel in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was held captive by Hamas for over five years. He understood them way better than they understood him – hence his ability to deceive them and catch them off guard by executing his military operation so effectively in October 2023,” Dr Ahron Bregman, a former Israeli army major, told Sky News. “He would read Israeli newspapers on a daily basis. Have you ever Googled “Who is Yahya Sinwar”? /wrhc4q0FsB

Prison architect for life