In 1st public message since Oct. 7, Sinwar says Hamas facing ‘unprecedented battle’ but won’t give up

In his first public message since October 7, Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar says the terror group is facing a “fierce, violent and unprecedented battle” against Israel.

However, he claims that the terror group is on its way to crushing the Israel Defense Forces, and referring to Israel, he says Hamas will not submit to “the occupation’s conditions.”

Sinwar falsely claims that the al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, has killed over a thousand Israeli soldiers. According to the IDF, 156 soldiers have been killed in the Israeli ground operation in Gaza, far below the figures given by the terror leader. Over 300 members of the security forces were killed in the October 7 onslaught.

The terror leader also gives inflated claims of the number of Israeli soldiers injured in the war, and the amount of Israeli military equipment that has been destroyed.

Sinwar’s announcement comes as the terror group faces growing military pressure. The IDF is “gradually completing” its goals in northern Gaza and is continuing operations in the Khan Younis area in the south of the Strip, according to a statement by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Friday. Gallant issued a renewed threat against Sinwar, saying he will soon “meet the barrels of our guns.”

On Saturday, Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh returned to Doha from Cairo to discuss with exiled officials of the terror group an Egyptian proposal for a two-week truce that could become a permanent ceasefire if Hamas agrees to allow a Palestinian technocratic government to take control of Gaza, and to release all Israeli hostages in exchange for the release of a certain number of Palestinian prisoners. There were some indications that Israel had not flat-out rejected the proposal.

The war began with the deadly Hamas onslaught on October 7, when thousands of terrorists stormed into Israel, killing some 1,200 people and seizing around 240 hostages. In response, Israel launched an aerial campaign and subsequent ground operation, vowing to eliminate Hamas from the Gaza Strip and end its rule.