A new video has been published showing Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar wandering around southern Gaza, his head covered in some kind of blanket that makes him look like Gandalf from Lord of the Rings.
The new video is supposed to portray the Hamas leader as fighting in close quarters with the IDF and convey to the audience the idea that Sinwar fought to the end with tier-one special forces operators. This is quite far from the truth.
The new footage is part of the documentary series What is Hidden is Greater, broadcast on Qatari state-owned Al-Jazeera. In the new report, a video shows Sinwar wandering around southern Gaza. It’s not clear why he is dressed the way he is; the report alleges that he is supposed to be disguised as an elderly civilian. According to the series, Sinwar is able to walk in areas where the IDF is present, including with a tank in the background.
New Al-Jazeera documentary shows their “journalists” accompanying Sinwar and other H×mas terrorists, during and after the October 7 massacre.Al-Jazeera should be banned everywhere, just like it is banned in UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Israel.pic.twitter.com/zzDZ7fQZmn
— Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) January 25, 2025
While the video is making the rounds in pro-Palestinian circles, with Sinwar praised for his heroism, the reality of the video raises more questions than answers. Why was Sinwar off on his own with only a few men? What was the point of this forlorn journey? What was the point of the quest? Sinwar was not just some battalion commander in the field; he was supposed to be leading Hamas in Gaza.
Leading Hamas in Gaza was a goal he had worked toward for many years. Why, in the end, did he wander off from the central camps area and Khan Younis, where he had many fighters, and go to southern Gaza basically by himself with just a few comrades? Why would a commander and leader do this?
Who is Yahya Sinwar?
First of all, here is some background information about Sinwar. Born in 1962 in Khan Younis, Sinwar grew up in Gaza, which was run by Israel. In those days, the Israelis ran the civil administration, and there were Israeli police in the enclave. Sinwar joined the new Hamas movement when it emerged in the 1980s. He was known for murdering Palestinians and was known as a kind of mafia thug.
He was sent to Israeli prison until 2011 and rose up in the ranks of Hamas. From that point, he built up his power base in Gaza until he took over leadership of Hamas in Gaza in 2017. This was an important moment for him. He later became the political head of Hamas in August 2024, which gave him tremendous power. He had planned the Great March of Return protests and also several escalations with Israel, including the May 2021 war. He was testing Israel on his road to October 7.
After October 7, Sinwar spent time in the bunkers and tunnels under Khan Younis. This was Sinwar’s home turf. When the IDF went into Khan Younis with the 98th Division in late 2023 through April 2024, it’s not clear if Sinwar remained close to the fighting. The IDF’s tactics were relatively slow and plodding, so Sinwar could have stayed close to the ever-moving front line. When the IDF left, Hamas returned to Khan Younis.
In May, the IDF went into Rafah, but since Khan Younis was not empty, the Hamas battalions in Rafah were able to retreat and resupply via ratlines running back to Khan Younis. Sinwar likely could have returned at this time and commanded in relative safety throughout the next months from Khan Younis or the central camps.
We know that some high-level members of Hamas, including the Khan Younis commanders and Mohammed Dief, gathered at a house in Mawasi from time to time. Dief was apparently killed in an airstrike at that house. Sinwar leaned on his brother Mohammed Sinwar increasingly as other commanders were killed. By this time, Hamas had gone to ground, and its men were operating only in small cells in many areas; they always wore civilian clothes and often didn’t carry weapons in the open, stashing them in homes for easy access.
Hamas now moved its command and control to former schools and also to hospitals. The IDF bombed and raided some of these locations. The IDF did not go into the central camps area: Nuseirat, Bureij, Deir al-Balah, and Maghazi. Hamas likely knew the IDF wouldn’t enter this area because of fear of harming the hostages. At some point, Sinwar went to Rafah in July or August.
It is believed that six hostages were nearby; some reports say they may have been shields for him. But this is unclear because the videos that now emerge don’t show him with hostages. The hostages were Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino, Eden Yerushalmi, Almog Sarusi, Alexander Lobanov, and Carmel Gat. The bodies of these hostages were recovered on August 31 by the IDF. They had been murdered not long before they were found.
Days before the hostage bodies were found, a living hostage, Qaid Farhan al-Qadi, was rescued on August 27, 2024. Qadi is a Bedouin Israeli, one of several taken hostage by Hamas. His captors had fled, leaving him in southern Gaza. Throughout September and into early October, it appears Sinwar may have wandered around southern Gaza.
There is a lack of clarity about what he was doing at this time, but he ran into an IDF patrol in Rafah in southern Gaza. He was with several Hamas members. They scattered after running into the IDF patrol. Sinwar’s body was found the next day in a building after the IDF had used a drone and a tank in the operation. Sinwar was portrayed as a hero by his supporters, with many images of him created to make him seem stronger, more able, and tougher than he was in real life.
The new footage of Sinwar wandering around in Gaza adds to questions about his last days or months. Why would a commander and political leader end up like this? He wasn’t being hunted. He chose to go to southern Gaza. He could have remained in Khan Younis or central Gaza. It’s highly unusual for military or political leaders to end up being killed like this.
When commanders or political leaders end up killed, it is usually because their country had collapsed and they were on the run. Consider the case of Darius III, hunted to Bactria by Alexander the Great, or Paraguayan leader Francisco Solana Carrillo, who was killed at the end of the Paraguayan war. Benito Mussolini ended the same war on the run, his power having been stripped from him. In rare cases, leaders die by accident in plane crashes or things like that, but in wartime, it’s rare they end up like Sinwar.
Is it possible Sinwar was pushed out by Hamas, or he had decided to leave the group in the hands of his brother and end his life? If he chose to wander off and seek a “martyr’s death” then was his decision to go to Rafah a way to make sure that would happen.
In October, the IDF was wrapping up most operations in Gaza. The IDF was focused on fighting Hezbollah. The IDF had settled into running the Netzarim corridor and the Philadelphi corridor. The only reason Sinwar was in Rafah was to find the IDF. He could have avoided them and spent time rebuilding Hamas in Gaza.
Did Sinwar think Hamas was losing? This seems unlikely since he had seen the worst of the IDF onslaught in late 2023 and early 2024, and he must have known that the IDF would tire of this war. Was he pushed out by machinations in Doha among the Hamas leaders who live abroad? It’s conceivable that they conspired against him. After Ismail Haniyeh was killed, it’s possible that Sinwar lost out in some kind of internal power struggle. There is no good explanation for why he wandered off to his death. The new videos show how tired he looked wandering around Gaza.
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