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Israel's most wanted: Three Hamas bosses in Gaza Tel Aviv must kill to win
Israel-Hamas War: The 61-year-old Yahya Sinwar, as well as Mohammed Deif and Marwan Issa, both 58, form a secretive three-man military council.
Three men topping Israel's hit-list remain at large: Mohammed Deif, the head of Hamas' military wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades; his second in command, Marwan Issa; and Hamas' leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar- who have been directing Hamas' military operations as well as leading negotiations for a prisoner-hostage swaps. They are possibly conducting all operations from bunkers beneath Gaza, news agency Reuters reported quoting three Hamas sources.
As hostilities resumed in Gaza after a seven-day truce brokered by Qatar collapsed, Israel's offensive was unlikely to stop until the three top Hamas commanders are dead or captured, the report claimed as the seven-week-old military campaign has killed more than 15,000 people in Palestine.
The 61-year-old Yahya Sinwar, as well as Mohammed Deif and Marwan Issa, both 58, form a secretive three-man military council that planned and executed the October 7 attack against Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and around 240 taken hostage- the bloodiest in Israel's 75-year history.
Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Tel Aviv's objectives are the destruction of Hamas' military capabilities, bringing the hostages back as well as ensuring that the area around Gaza will never be threatened by a repeat of the attack.
Read more: Hamas offered to hand over remains of hostage baby, family says
Israel defence minister said Yoav Gallant said, “They are living on borrowed time”- indicating that Israeli intelligence agency Mossad would hunt down the group's leadership anywhere in the world.
Two military experts told Reuters that killing Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Marwan Issa would allow Israel to claim an important symbolic victory.
Michael Eisenstadt, director of the Military and Security Studies Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy said, "If (Israel) could say we've killed Sinwar, we've killed Marwan Issa, we've killed Mohammed Deif, that's a very clear, symbolic and substantive achievement. What if they can't get the guys? Do they keep fighting until they get them? And what if what if they just prove elusive?"
This comes as reports claimed that roughly around 5,000 Hamas fighters had been killed – roughly one fifth of its overall strength which implies that six battalions numbering around 1,000 men each had been significantly degraded.
What experts have said on the three leaders
Osama Hamdan, a Lebanon-based Hamas leader, contested the figures terming them as "Israeli propaganda" to cover its lack of military success. Meanwhile, a Hamas insider in Gaza told Reuters that “destroying the group as a military force would mean house to house combat and fighting in the warren of tunnels beneath the enclave.”
"If we talk about a year, we will be optimistic," he said.
Kobi Michael, a former head of the Palestinian desk at Israel's Ministry for Strategic Affairs, said that capturing Sinwar would be an important victory but not necessarily the ultimate one.
"Israeli society perceives itself under an existential threat and the options it sees before it are two only: To be or not to be," he said.
What US believes on elimination of Hamas' leadership
US president Joe Biden's administration believes that eliminating Hamas' leadership is an attainable goal for Israel, three officials told Reuters. But destroying Hamas completely may not possible at all, they said.
