Recently, there were report of a possibility that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed during IDF attacks in the Gaza Strip. Now, senior officials in Qatar admit that they too are unable to communicate with Sinwar.
According to a report on 'Channel 12', the Qatari sources told hostage families that "they estimate Sinwar is surrounding himself with hostages. Although he has disappeared, there is no information indicating that the Hamas leader in Gaza is dead."
The sources also claimed: "Israel adopted an assassination policy that worsened the deal. In the past, there was Haniyeh and he was eliminated. Now there's Khaled Mashal and he's much tougher than Haniyeh ... Sinwar is currently not communicating with us. He has disappeared and hasn't made contact. He stopped communicating via phones because of the assassinations, and now he communicates through paper and pen, which makes it very difficult."
Last month, during a conversation with hostage families, Defense Minister Gallant addressed reports that although Sinwar was 'off the grid', there was no information indicating that he had been killed. Gallant added, "Sometimes he disappears for short periods and sometimes he disappears for long periods. We don't know exactly what happened to him."
During the past few months, the IDF has bombed the area where Sinwar is believed to be staying, but so far his body has not been found and there is no evidence that he was killed.