With a major IDF offensive looming in the city of Rafah, Gaza, Hamas leadership is considering replacing its Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar, according to reports from Channel 12 news.
The Israeli news outlet suggests that this decision arises from a communication disconnect between Hamas’s international leadership and the current situation on the ground in Gaza. The precise reason for this communication breakdown remains unclear; it could be due to Sinwar being in hiding, engaging in strategic deception, or struggling with ongoing communication challenges in Gaza.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant reflected this notion on Sunday following a security assessment with the head of the IDF Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman.
“Hamas-Gaza is MIA, there is no one to talk to among leadership on the ground,” Gallant said. “That means there is a tender for who will run Gaza.”
After the surrender of nearly 200 terrorists in Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis on Sunday, Gallant believes Hamas is losing its will to fight.
“People armed with RPGs, weapons, and guns came to the moment of truth and did not fight. This indicates something of their understanding of the power differential, that they understood their fate was to surrender or die — there is no third option,” he commented.
According to the defense minister, Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade has been effectively neutralized and no longer operates as a functional fighting force. It now only has limited forces in central camps and the Rafah Brigade remaining.
