Following the dramatic details disclosed by The New York Times today regarding Israel's ongoing manhunt for Sinwar with the aim of capturing him and bringing him to justice for his crimes, his behavioral patterns and methods of evading IDF soldiers are now being exposed. At the beginning of the war, Israeli and American intelligence agencies intercepted some phone conversations and identified the living patterns of Yahya Sinwar.
According to the report, Israeli intelligence and military sources estimate that Sinwar lived in a network of tunnels beneath Gaza City. During a raid on one of the tunnels, IDF soldiers discovered a video filmed days earlier, showing Sinwar and his family fleeing to another hiding place beneath the city. Israeli intelligence officials believe Sinwar was with his family for at least the first six months of the war.
It was also reported that Sinwar continued to use cell phones and satellite phones, and frequently communicated with Hamas operatives in Doha. American and Israeli espionage agencies managed to track some of these conversations but were unable to pinpoint his location. During this period, the intelligence agencies got a glimpse into his life underground, including his addiction to watching Israeli media and news broadcasts, as reported in Maariv. Israeli sources noted that all Hamas operatives hiding underground, including Sinwar, are required to occasionally come out of the tunnels for health reasons. However, the tunnel network is vast and complex, and Hamas militants have advanced intelligence on the location of IDF forces, which enables Sinwar to surface without being detected.