IDF shows Sinwar fleeing to tunnel on Oct. 7 eve, says he hid for a year as war raged
As some lionize Hamas chief’s ostensible death in battle, army says he only emerged to flee, just cared about his survival; Oct. 6 footage shows him escaping with family, supplies
The Israel Defense Forces released footage Saturday evening showing now-slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar fleeing with his family and extensive supplies into a tunnel complex below his home in Khan Younis on the night before the October 7, 2023, onslaught he orchestrated, casting Sinwar as a cowardly commander who chose to hide underground in luxury conditions and prioritize his own survival throughout a year of war with Israel in Gaza.
The release of the material, which the IDF said was recovered from Gaza several months ago, came amid attempts by some supporters of Hamas to portray footage of Sinwar throwing a stick at a surveillance drone in his final moments as proof of a heroic death by a leader who fought until his last breath.
For the past year, according to the IDF’s intelligence, “Sinwar hid most of the time underground in the area between Khan Younis and Rafah, and came out only to escape, accompanied by bodyguards and with documents, certificates, weapons and money in his possession,” the military’s spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a press conference.
“Even on the eve before the brutal massacre, Sinwar was busy with his survival and the survival of his family,” Hagari said, showing the footage and speaking first in Hebrew before delivering brief remarks in English.
“A few hours before the massacre, Sinwar and his family escaped alone to the tunnel,” Hagari said.
For hours, he added, Sinwar “went back and forth with sacks of food, water, pillows, a plasma television, mattresses and other supplies for a long stay.”
“Hours before the massacre, Sinwar only cared about himself and his family, while he sent terrorists for the murderous attack on Israeli children, women and men,” Hagari added.
“Among other things, these videos led the IDF and Shin Bet to narrow down the area of the pursuit of Sinwar. We chased him and got him to act as a wanted fugitive,” he said.
Hagari said that in February, the IDF reached the “underground fortress” Sinwar had built in Khan Younis, but he had fled shortly before.
The IDF found “toilets, a shower, a kitchen, beds, uniforms, safes, lots of cash, documents and other intel.”
“Several times our forces were very close to him and reached the places where he had stayed shortly after he managed to escape,” Hagari said.
He said the IDF’s offensive in Khan Younis prompted Sinwar to flee to Rafah, where he then hid in a tunnel built for Hamas VIPs in the Tel Sultan neighborhood.
“The complex had everything he needed, television, food, sofas, beds, means of communication and control. We found his DNA sample on a tissue there, with which he blew his nose,” Hagari said.
On Wednesday, IDF troops with the Bislamach Brigade spotted three gunmen near them and engaged them. One of them, later revealed to be Sinwar, split from the other two men and was killed by the forces.
“This is actually the first time that Yahya Sinwar, who had been hiding underground for a year, met the IDF forces in Gaza, and this is also the moment when he was eliminated,” Hagari said. “They came full circle with the man responsible for the cruel massacre of October 7.”
The IDF also released a new video showing the moment Sinwar was killed in the Tel Sultan neighborhood in southern Gaza’s Rafah by troops on Wednesday.
The video showed tank shelling and machine gun fire against a building where Sinwar had fled. He was killed in the exchange, and was located by troops and identified by Israel on Thursday.
Additional images released by the IDF show the tunnel in Tel Sultan where Sinwar had hidden in recent months, along with the tissues the army used to identify his DNA.
The tunnel where Sinwar had resided was close to the underground passage where six Israeli hostages were held and later murdered in August, Hagari stated.
He stressed that “there were no hostages with Sinwar when he was eliminated,” and that the IDF “acted with the caution necessary” to protect the hostages and its soldiers.
The IDF spokesman spoke at length about what he presented as the cynical abuse of Gaza’s citizens by Sinwar and other Hamas leaders, and the latters’ preoccupation with their own survival.
“What we showed tonight proves again that the leaders of the Hamas terrorist organization, whoever they are, do not care about the price that the people of Gaza pay. They use them only as human shields and are preoccupied solely with their own survival,” Hagari said.
“As we can see, all along, Sinwar was concerned first and foremost with himself and his own survival. An example of this is the cash he kept with him wherever he was.”
The earlier IDF drone footage was hailed by supporters and even some critics as evidence of a man killed in a confrontation who at least wasn’t hidden in a tunnel surrounded by hostages as Israel has said he was for much of the last year.
“After his elimination, there are those who seek to restore his honor,” Hagari noted. “But Sinwar lived and behaved like a wanted terrorist on the run. And that’s how he ended his life.”
Contrasting this behavior with that of IDF commanders, he continued: “Throughout the past year, Sinwar hid and ran while often the war raged near and above him. While IDF commanders fought and still fight at the front, Hamas terrorists carried out their actions as their leaders and commanders hid and made every effort to flee.”
Some 1,200 people were killed in Israel and 251 were taken hostage to Gaza on October 7, 2023, as thousands of Hamas-led terrorists invaded Israel, murdering families in their homes and revelers at a music festival amid horrid acts of brutality and sexual violence.
The massacre, planned and ordered by Sinwar, triggered a war that has lasted more than a year and devastated the Gaza Strip as Israel fights to dismantle Hamas’s military and governance capabilities and to returning the hostages, 97 of whom are still in the Strip, dozens of whom are confirmed dead.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 42,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 17,000 combatants in battle as of August and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools and mosques.
