As Hezbollah and allies reel over the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, the Israeli Defence Forces on Sunday posted a picture of the Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar marked with a question mark. The cryptic photo with IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi in the foreground raises questions about the fate of the Hamas chief, who reportedly is unreachable now.
Sinwar took over as Hamas chief in Gaza after Israel took out the then-chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July.
Halevi, in a video statement, was briefing about Israel's operation on the Houthi terror group in Yemen when a photograph was seen in the background showing the diagram of Hamas's leadership in Gaza, according to The Jerusalem Post.
The image had a question mark over Sinwar's name. It is unclear whether the IDF was uncertain about Sinwar's whereabouts or whether the armed forces were sending a subtle message about targetting him.
The prolonged incommunicado status of Sinwar has also triggered speculations that he could be dead. However, there is no evidence to claim so. Many believe that the statements released in Sinwar's name over the past few weeks were not actually written by him. Hamas had recently released a statement calling on Arab nations to "leave the box of silence and act" against Israel for the sufferings of the Lebanese people.
While the IDF recently stated that it could neither confirm nor deny reports on Sinwar's death, Israel's Security Agency disputed this theory, believing that Sinwar is still alive.
Meanwhile, other local media reports from Israel claim that Israel had the opportunity to eliminate Sinwar but decided not to proceed in doing so due to fear of harming the hostages in Hamas' captivity. Though the country got details regarding Sinwar which would aid in his assassination, the leadership decided it was too risky as the hostages were somewhere near the same area. Unconfirmed reports claim that Sinwar had surrounded himself with hostages as human shields.
Ram Ben-Barak, a former deputy director of the Mossad, recently told The Guardian that Israel was very careful with what they were doing because of the hostages. "I believe if there were no such restrictions, we would have found him easier," Barak added.
It is also said that Sinwar moved back to the Gaza Strip after learning about the Israeli airstrike that killed Nasrallah.