Hamas is looking to replace Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar after a string of defeats for the Palestinian terror group in Khan Younis and ongoing radio silence from the elusive terrorist leader, Israel claims.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in a report Sunday it has become evident that Hamas’ leadership abroad has lost confidence that the suspected Oct. 7 mastermind and other current terror officials in Gaza can stave off the Israel Defense Force’s advancements after its battalions in Khan Younis were taken out.
“Hamas does not trust its commanders, this is a very, very noticeable thing,” Gallant said after a meeting with the IDF’s southern command, according to the Times of Israel. “The Hamas-Gaza station does not answer, there is no one to talk to as leadership on the ground.
“That means there is a tender for who will manage Gaza,” Gallant suggested.
Sinwar, the man believed to have been the mastermind behind the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel that launched the war, has allegedly been out of contact with the terror group for weeks, according to Israeli Channel 12.
It is unclear if the terror group cannot reach Sinwar because he’s on the run or because of the rolling communication blackouts across Gaza.
Hamas has not commented on Sinwar’s whereabouts or the allegations made by Gallant.
The IDF has repeatedly vowed to hunt down the terrorist leader, who has eluded the Israeli military since its ground assault into the Palestinian enclave began.
Although the IDF claimed that it had isolated him in an underground bunker in northern Gaza in November, Sinwar was believed to have used the terror group’s 300-mile long tunnel system to escape south.
While the Israeli military eventually surrounded his home in Khan Younis the next month, it came up empty-handed again, and ensuing heated battles and raids into the southern tunnels have yet to turn up signs of Sinwar’s whereabouts.
Last week, the IDF revealed footage of the Hamas leader running through the tunnel system with his family just days after the Oct. 7 massacre.
“The hunt for Sinwar will not stop until we catch him, dead or alive,” IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters after the video of Sinwar was aired.
While some experts have speculated that Sinwar could be hiding in Rafah, currently Gaza’s most populous city housing more than 1.4 million refugees, Gallant said there would be no more places to escape to, as the IDF is expected to advance into the city despite international outcry over civilian casualties.
“Hamas is left with marginal [forces] in the central camps and with the Rafah Brigade, and what stands between them and a complete collapse as a military system is a decision by the IDF,” he said.
“There is no one here to come to their aid, no Iranians, no international aid,” he added.
Gallant noted that Hamas’ once 24-strong battalions have dwindled to just six – two in Central Gaza and four in Rafah.