Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar rejects Arab offer to escape Gaza after October 7 attack: report

Slain Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar turned down the chance to leave Gaza in exchange for allowing Egypt to negotiate a hostage ceasefire instead of Hamas, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Sunday. Arab negotiators offered Sinwar an escape deal, which he refused.

According to the Journal, Sinwar hoped the war his Oct. 7 attacks had ignited would lead Iran and its proxies to a regional war with the Jewish state. “I am not under siege, I am on Palestinian soil,” Sinwar told Arab mediators in a message shortly after the war began, according to The Jerusalem Post.

October 7 attack in Israel

The Hamas leader who was killed by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip masterminded the October 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war. It rose to the top spot in August after the previous leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in an explosion in Iran that was blamed on Israel.

Sinwar was born in 1962 in a refugee camp in the city of Khan Younis in Gaza. He was an early member of Hamas, which was formed in 1987. He eventually headed the group’s security arm, which worked to purge it of spies for Israel.

Israel arrested him in the late 1980s and he admitted to killing 12 suspected collaborators, a role that earned him the nickname “The Butcher of Khan Younis”. He was sentenced to four life terms for crimes that included the murder of two Israeli soldiers.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said Thursday that the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar marks the “beginning of the day after Hamas,” but warned that the death would not mark the end of the war in Gaza unless Hamas surrender and release all hostages.

Hamas leaders killed

A senior Hamas official said the Palestinian militant group cannot be eliminated by killing its leaders. “Hamas is a liberation movement led by people who seek freedom and dignity, and that cannot be eliminated,” said Basem Naim, a member of Hamas’ political office. In a statement, he listed several Hamas leaders killed in the past and said their deaths had boosted the group’s popularity.

“It seems that Israel believes that killing our leaders means the end of our movement and the struggle of the Palestinian people,” Naim said. “Hamas became stronger and more popular, and these leaders became an icon for future generations to continue the journey to a free Palestine.”

(With input from the agency)