Israeli Channel 12 reported on Friday evening new details regarding the assassination of Mohammed Sinwar, a prominent leader in Hamas and the brother of Yahya Sinwar, who Israel claimed to have previously assassinated. According to the report, throughout the war period, Mohammed Sinwar resorted to a strategy of surrounding himself with a "belt of prisoners" as a human shield to prevent assassination attempts by the Israeli army.
According to the report, Hamas leaders relied on "using prisoners as an effective deterrent to prevent Israel from carrying out assassination operations, given the extreme sensitivity towards the lives of the prisoners. Mohammed Sinwar adopted the same tactic after the martyrdom of his brother, and his movements were limited, and little was known about him."
The Fatal Error
"The rare opportunity," as the report describes, came when Sinwar met in a closed meeting with Hamas leader Mohammed Shabaneh, and some senior fighters, without any Israeli prisoners present. The Israeli intelligence service received a signal confirming the absence of any prisoners, which was considered an exceptional moment to launch the attack, according to the Hebrew channel's report.
An Israeli security source claimed: "If there is even a 1% chance that prisoners are present at the location – the operation is not approved. There is no room for risk."
Following the intelligence confirmation, Israeli Air Force planes headed towards the target: an underground complex near the European Hospital in Gaza, where Sinwar and Shabaneh were located. The site was bombed, and all its entrances and exits were blocked to prevent any escape attempt. Anyone trying to reach the site to rescue injured individuals or remove bodies was subject to an additional attack, according to the report.
