A month after the October 7 massacre of Israeli civilians by Hamas and 12 days into the ground offensive by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) that began on October 27, Hamas Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar and the military chief Mohammed Deif continue to successfully evade the IDF assault even as another top Hamas militant was killed late on Monday.
Sinwar, 61, also known as Abu Ibrahim, along with Dief, 58, are believed to be the main masterminds and architects of the 7/10 attacks. Sinwar was solely responsible for misleading Israeli security into focusing on the West Bank even as he consolidated the Hamas network in the Gaza Strip and planned the October massacre.
Likening him to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has called Sinwar as a ‘dead man walking’ even as Defence Minister Yoav Gallant prioritised Sinwar’s elimination.
Last week Gallant said: “We will get to Yahya Sinwar and eliminate him. If the residents of Gaza get there ahead of us, that will shorten the war.”
Sinwar and Dief are believed to be hiding in the bunkers that are a part of the extensive 500 km maze of tunnels the Hamas had constructed underneath Gaza over the years.
Since 7/10, both Sinwar and Dief have assumed near-mythical status among Palestinians.
On Tuesday, the IDF said that it had killed a top leader who had commandeered the 7/10 assault. The statement said: “The IDF eliminated Wael Asefa, Commander of Hamas’ Deir al-Balah Battalion. Asefa aided in the dispatch of thousands of terrorists to assault, abduct and murder Israeli civilians on October 7th.”
On Sunday, another top Hamas special operations fighter Jamal Musa was killed in an Israeli air strike.
On Tuesday, Major General Yaron Finkelman, who heads IDF’s Southern Command, summed up the first month of the counter attack war on Hamas. “For the first time in decades, the IDF is fighting in the heart of Gaza City, in the heart of terror. It is a complex and difficult war, and unfortunately it also has taken a toll”, he said.
“Our actions are harming the heart of Hamas activities. We eliminated dozens of commanders, unveiled many tunnels, and we are striking the enemy hard,” the general added.
At least 14 of Hamas leaders were killed in the IDF attacks till now. While about 1,400 Israelis were killed by Hamas terrorists on October 7 after breaking a fortified fence separating Gaza from Israel, the number of Palestinians killed in the IDF bombardment and assault till now crossed 10,000, including over 4,000 children.
Meanwhile, leading NGO ActionAid said on Tuesday that about half a million people in north Gaza are suffering due to acute lack of food and water. “Nearly a month into the crisis, over half a million people, trapped in northern Gaza who have barely survived the relentless bombing, face death by starvation as food supplies run perilously low,” ActionAid's Riham Jafari was quoted as saying.
