Biden administration official says terror group’s Gaza leader has the blood of 38 Americans killed on October 7 ‘on his hands’
A senior Biden administration official said it is “safe to say” that Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar’s “days are numbered,” during a press briefing Thursday on US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan’s meetings in Israel.
While Israeli leaders have voiced such threats against the terror leader and have referred to him as “a dead man walking,” it appeared to be the first time that a senior US official has spoken publicly about Sinwar in such a manner.
“I also think it’s safe to say it doesn’t matter how long it takes…justice will be served,” the senior administration official said, noting that Sinwar has “American blood on his hands.”
Thirty-eight Americans were killed during Hamas’s terror onslaught on October 7, and eight US citizens and permanent residents are among the roughly 135 hostages being held in Gaza.
Sinwar is currently believed to be hiding in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, after fleeing the north of the Strip by hiding in a humanitarian convoy heading south early in Hamas’s war with Israel.
The military also appeared to place a bounty on his head earlier this week when it reportedly dropped fliers in the Gaza Strip offering money for information on his whereabouts.
Images were circulated on social media Thursday of a pamphlet that offered up to $400,000 for Sinwar and smaller amounts for other Hamas leaders. The flier, whose authenticity could not be confirmed, included a telephone number and a contact on the Telegram messaging app, with a promise of confidentiality.
Sinwar was selected to replace Ismail Haniyeh as the leader of the terror group inside Gaza in 2017. Haniyeh currently resides in Qatar and serves as the chair of Hamas’s political bureau.
He was sentenced to four life sentences by Israel in 1989 for planning the abduction and murder of two Israeli soldiers and four Palestinians but was released 22 years later as part of the deal Israel made for the return of captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.
He has been accused of overseeing the preparations and planning for the October 7 onslaught, during which thousands of Hamas-led terrorists poured into Israel from the land, air and sea, killing more than 1,200 people and seizing some 240 hostages.
In response to the attack, the deadliest in the country’s history, Israel vowed to eliminate Hamas from Gaza and end their 16-year rule, and launched an aerial campaign and subsequent ground operation.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza has claimed that more than 18,600 people have been killed since the start of the war, mostly civilians. These figures cannot be independently verified and are believed to include some 7,000 Hamas or Hamas-affiliated terror operatives, as well as civilians killed by misfired Palestinian rockets. Another estimated 1,000 terrorists were killed in Israel during the October 7 onslaught.
Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.
Content retrieved from: https://www.timesofisrael.com/hamas-chief-sinwars-days-are-numbered-senior-us-official-warns/.