Leader of Hamas attack the ‘Butcher’ listed as Israel's top target for assassination

[Anchor]

Sinwar is the person who designed and led the surprise attack on Israel, and he was Israel's number one target for assassination.

He was imprisoned in an Israeli jail for over 20 years and was released through a prisoner negotiation, after which he has been conducting Hamas activities while evading tracking through underground tunnels.

Im Se-heum's continues the report.

[Report]

By deploying paratroopers at the festival site, civilians were kidnapped and 3,000 missiles were launched at once, breaking through Israel's air defense system.

The person who designed and led this surprise operation by Hamas, which caught Israel off guard a year ago, was 61-year-old Sinwar.

[Yoav Gallant/Israeli Defense Minister/November last year:
"We will get to that leadership. We will get to (Hamas Gaza chief) Yahya Sinwar and eliminate him."

Sinwar was born in a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.

He has been involved since the founding of Hamas and was called a 'butcher' for killing Palestinians who cooperated with Israel.

After killing two Israeli soldiers, he served over 20 years in prison and was released in 2011 through a negotiation deal that exchanged over a thousand Palestinian prisoners for one Israeli soldier.

[Yahya Sinwar/Interview right after release in 2011:
"It’s really an indescribable feeling. There is no doubt that this is a nationalistic event par excellence."

After returning to Hamas, Sinwar began to establish close ties with Iran as the head of the military organization, and in 2017, he rose to the leadership position in Gaza, targeting Israel.

[Yahya Sinwar/35th anniversary of Hamas founding in 2022:
"We will come to you with an endless number of rockets, we will come to you in a flood of soldiers without limit"

After the war, Israel placed a bounty of $400,000 on Sinwar, the number one target for elimination, but he has been elusive, leading the organization while using underground tunnels.

This is KBS News Im Se-heum.