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Presumed to be killed in September 21 Israeli strikes in Gaza, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is reportedly said to be alive and has allegedly made secret contact with Qatar through senior Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayah read more
 "Is Yahya Sinwar alive? Speculation rife about Hamas chief’s status amid reports about Israeli probe")
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. AFP File
Presumed to be killed in September 21 Israeli strikes in Gaza, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is reportedly said to be alive and has allegedly made secret contact with Qatar.
According to a report by The Jerusalem Post on Monday, citing a senior Qatari diplomat, while the contact had been established, it was not direct.
The diplomat told the news outlet that the communication had been established through Khalil al-Hayah, a senior figure in Hamas.
According to reports, Sinwar “cut off contact” because he believed Israel was not interested in reaching a hostage-ceasefire deal. A senior Israeli official told Walla news site that Sinwar has in any way softened his position on a hostage-ceasefire deal.
The news comes just days after reports suggested that Israel was probing if Sinwar had been killed in the rocket strike that hit a school housing displaced Palestinians in Gaza City.
The report further said that Qatari officials also previously said they believed Sinwar surrounded himself with hostages before going silent.
Sinwar was believed to have been killed in the Israeli strikes on Gaza on September 21 due to his lack of contact with official channels for some time.
The Israeli military said the attack aimed at a Hamas command center, while Palestinian health authorities reported that women and children were among the 22 people killed in the strike.
On September 22, the Times of Israel reported that officials were investigating the possibility of Sinwar’s death, based on military intelligence, as highlighted by Israeli journalist Ben Caspit.
Yahya Sinwar, who orchestrated the October 7 attacks on Israel, became the leader of Hamas in August after the assassination of his predecessor, Ismail Haniyeh, in an explosion in Iran.
Born in 1962, Sinwar was one of the founding members of Hamas, established in 1987. He led the militant group’s security branch, which focused on eliminating Israeli spies within the organization.
Arrested by Israel in the late 1980s, Sinwar confessed to killing 12 suspected collaborators, earning him the moniker “The Butcher of Khan Younis.”
He was ultimately sentenced to four life terms for his crimes, which included the murder of two Israeli personnel.
With inputs from agencies
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