GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 130

Dead Or Alive

Video Found

The IDF has video evidence of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar after the October 7th attacks as we see in a report from i24news.tv:

Israel has footage showing Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, in the tunnels beneath Khan Yunis, a source confirmed to i24NEWS.

The video marks Sinwar's first appearance since the outbreak of hostilities on October 7th.

The footage was taken from Hamas security cameras within the past few days, showing Sinwar with women and children in the tunnels. Analysis of the video indicates that Sinwar appeared to be in good condition before swiftly departing the scene following the recording.

The video is brief and doesn’t reveal much more than that Sinwar is still alive, but definitely underground. It also appears to show us he is living in the tunnels along with one of his wives and children. The article goes on to note that documents thought to have been written by Sinwar are in the hands of the IDF indicating that they are hot on his trail. In a separate article from The Jerusalem Post we read this:

The video shows the Hamas head carrying a bag and wearing a t-shirt, loose-fitting pants, and flip-flops.

"This video of Sinwar is a result of the hunt we are conducting after him," Hagari stated. "The hunt will not stop until we capture him - alive or dead. We are determined to capture him - and we will."

Is there more value in capturing him or in killing him? On one hand, the intel they could gather from him alive could help them in their overall goals, but it could still give Hamas hope in surviving. But killing him would also be a victory for the IDF and seriously slow down the organization. Ultimately, it might not be a choice that Sinwar gives them if he is face to face with the barrels of Israeli guns.

Hostage Talks End

The hostage talks in Cairo, Egypt ended and Israel’s delegation is returning home without a deal in hand as we see in an article from The Times Of Israel:

The Israeli delegation is on its way back from Cairo, an official in the Prime Minister’s Office tells The Times of Israel. They met with CIA director William Burns, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, and Egyptian officials for talks on a truce framework.

Another official says that the Israeli delegation, led by Mossad head David Barnea and Shin Bet director Ronen Bar, was “there to listen,” and that they did not put a new offer on the table.

For their part, the United States feels that a deal can be made as we read in another report from The Times Of Israel:

Negotiators working on a framework for a deal to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza have made “real progress” over the last few weeks, a senior Biden administration official said Sunday night.

The hostage release deal was the main focus of a 45-minute telephone call between US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier.

While there were still some “significant” gaps to close, the official said the deal was “pretty much there,” adding that Biden had stressed the need to capitalize on that progress to “secure the release of all hostages as soon as possible.”

Hamas offered their own view of things this way:

With Netanyahu determined to complete the offensive, Hamas has threatened to “blow up” the hostage negotiations if troops enter the city, a senior Hamas leader was quoted as saying on Sunday by the terror group’s Aqsa TV channel.

The city mentioned is Rafah and the IDF already conducted a mission there and released two hostages as well kill 100 of their terrorists. I’d say the line was crossed already.

Still A Ways To Go

In an article from The Times Of Israel the IDF chief of staff talks about the achievements in the war and cautions on what is ahead:

The Israel Defense Forces’ achievements in the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip are higher than it had expected at this stage, but are still not enough to complete the campaign’s goals, the army’s chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said Tuesday.

“We have been fighting for about four months and there is still a ways to go,” Halevi said in a press conference from the Gaza border, vowing to continue fighting until the goals are reached.

“In the past decades, there has not been an army that maneuvered in an area that is urban and dense, with high [buildings] and [tunnels] below the surface of the ground. IDF soldiers are dealing with this with great success and the military achievements are extraordinary. Unfortunately, there is also a price in casualties,” he added.

Halevi is referring to the 569 soldiers who have died so far in the war. He then said this about what is ahead:

Meanwhile, Halevi said, the war was continuing across Gaza in varying levels of intensity. Using the intelligence it gathers, the army is still fighting in the north of the Strip at locations where there is terrorist activity.

“We come back for the second and third time to targets, kill more enemies, destroy more terror infrastructures and deepen the achievement,” he said.

When asked about when civilians can go back to areas that were evacuated and said this:

“We don’t want to create a situation in which the residents of the Gaza Strip mix with the enemy, thus risking their lives. That is why we are still isolating the north of the Strip,” he said.

He promised that residents would be allowed to return as soon as the army was sure it had eradicated terrorism in the area.

Halevi pointed out that the IDF is doing things no one thought could be done:

In southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, Halevi said, “We are reaching places that the enemy did not imagine we would reach, destroying all the strategic assets of Hamas in a city that was considered the terror capital of the organization.”

Needless to say, they are not only getting the job of eliminating Hamas done, but they are getting better at it every day. As some have said, the lessons learned and the experience gained will help them in fighting Hezbollah in the north, a battle that will most likely happen sooner than later. As I always say, pray for the peace of Jerusalem.