Reports: Israel knew for months that Sinwar was hiding in Rafah, but didn’t know exact location

Israel’s security establishment knew for months that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was hiding in the Tel Sultan neighborhood of Rafah, Hebrew media reports.

The security establishment believed that he was hiding underground and for much of this time was with the six hostages who the IDF recovered in late August after they were executed.

Based on all of this intelligence, the IDF announced an operation in Tel Sultan that it claimed was aimed at eliminating Hamas’s brigade in the neighborhood when the real purpose was to take out Sinwar, Hebrew media reports.

During the operation, the IDF targeted a gathering of Hamas operatives, believing that Sinwar was among them. However, after identifying the bodies of the 26 terrorists killed in the strike, they realized that the Hamas leader was not one of them, the Hebrew media reports say.

The IDF did not have precise intelligence of where Sinwar was located and the soldiers who killed him yesterday only realized it was him after the fact.