Israeli intelligence officials believe that messages allegedly sent by Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar published over the past two weeks did not come from him, according to a report by the Galatz army radio station on Monday.
These include a message to Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, the Houthi leader and the president of Algeria. According to the report, although the messages were signed in Sinwar’s name, they were actually written by someone else within Hamas.
Israel is also investigating the possibility that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar may no longer be alive. This theory has been put forward by several experts from the Military Intelligence Service (Aman) who specialize in the Palestinian field. However, there is currently no concrete evidence to support this claim.
The Shin Bet (Israel Security Service) denies this theory, believing that Sinwar is still alive. According to this theory, it is possible that Sinwar was killed during an IDF operation without the public knowing about it.
Against the backdrop of the stalled hostage negotiations – which are due to major differences between the parties’ positions that mediators have been unable to bridge – and efforts to prevent a war between Israel and Hezbollah, the sides are currently forging a secret alternative plan.
Alternative plan
According to informed sources, senior US officials have concluded that the step-by-step approach to a deal “is not working” and alternative ideas need to be explored. The new plan proposes to consolidate the individual steps of the agreement.
Both Israeli and US officials recently agreed that the interim phase should be skipped because the current negotiation process is hindering progress toward agreements.
