Hamas ‘absolute leader’ Yahya Sinwar has added a new condition to the terror group’s demands for a hostage release and ceasefire deal: his survival.
“Sinwar insists on guarantees for his safety and life,” including after the war is over,” according to a senior Egyptian official quoted by Ynet.
The Hamas chief was among more than 1,000 terrorists released from prison in Israel on October 18, 2011, in a swap for Gilad Shalit, an IDF soldier kidnapped on Jun 25, 2006, by Hamas and allied terrorists. At the time, Sinwar had spent 22 years in prison, serving multiple life sentences for murder.
For months, the Hamas leader has claimed the terrorists “have the Israelis right where we want them” and telling fellow Hamas leaders in Doha that Gaza’s civilian losses “are necessary sacrifices.”
Sinwar once referred to the thousands of Gazans he placed in harm’s way as “necessary sacrifices” in his terrorist group’s war to annihilate the Jewish State. And just a few months ago, he likened the ongoing conflict to a 7th-century battle in Karbala, Iraq in which the Islamic Prophet Muhammad’s grandson was killed.
“We have to move forward on the same path we started or let it be a new Karbala,” Sinwar wrote in a message to his allies.
That is not to say that Sinwar is personally willing to die for his people, “martyr” or not.
As he draws closer to meeting the 72 virgins promised by Islamic jihadist belief to every “shahid” (martyr) who dies fighting an enemy, Sinwar may indeed be reconsidering his desire for eternal life.
Former Israeli national security adviser Jacob Nagel, who is currently a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), has said he believes Sinwar will do anything to survive, keeping at least some hostages around him as life insurance.