Report: No more than 2 or 3 people know Sinwar’s whereabouts, Hamas leader won’t consider exile

Only two or three people know the whereabouts of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, sources from the terror group tell London-based newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat.

“A very small circle of no more than two or three people at most knows his whereabouts and secures his various needs, as well as ensuring his communication with the movement’s leaders inside and outside,” a source tells the outlet.

“[Israel] failed to reach many of the first and second-tier leaders [of Hamas] on the political and military levels, but it tried to assassinate some of them, some of whom were injured, and some of whom survived and came out unharmed from bombing operations in different areas and targets, but Sinwar is not among them,” the source says.

The report says sources did not specify whether Sinwar was hiding above ground or in tunnels. In February, the Israel Defense Forces released footage of what it said was Sinwar walking through a Gaza tunnel with several of his family members on October 10.

Sources close to the Hamas leader tell the outlet that they believe Sinwar will not consider a deal that would see him exiled.

“Sinwar is thinking of two options, with no third option as long as he is alive — either to fulfill the resistance’s conditions of stopping the war, the withdrawal of the occupation forces, and completing an honorable exchange deal, or to obtain the honor of martyrdom,” a source says.

“Beyond that, in his personal thinking, there are no other options. Such a proposal [exile from Gaza] is fundamentally unacceptable for Sinwar, and he cannot even think about it,” the source says.

It has been reported in the past that Israel could be open to a deal that would see the October 7 mastermind exiled from the Gaza Strip. Israel had previously pledged that all the leaders of the Hamas terror group in Gaza would be killed or captured.