At a time when Israel is pursuing the head of the Hamas political bureau in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, who is considered the mastermind of the October 7 attack, pages and accounts on social media circulated a picture that was said to document a recent appearance of him in the streets of the Gaza Strip, which is subject to violent Israeli bombardment and ground operations.
The picture shows Yahya Al-Sinwar surrounded by a number of men and behind him a column of smoke.
The accompanying comments stated that the photo shows him on a tour in the besieged Gaza Strip in recent days, despite the violent bombing and military operations.
The appearance of these leaflets comes as military operations and bombing continue on areas in the Gaza Strip, including the city of Rafah, which is crowded with displaced people, where the Israeli army is preparing for a ground attack in its war against Hamas, despite warnings from the international community, especially the American ally.
Israel had previously pledged to eliminate Sinwar, who was born in the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.
In February, the Israeli army showed a video clip that it said showed Yahya Al-Sinwar inside a tunnel on October 10, that is, three days after the attack launched by the movement on southern Israel.
Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said at the time, “It will not stop until Sinwar captures him, dead or alive.”
But the photo that was said to show Sinwar wandering in the Gaza Strip is old.
Searching for it on search engines shows that it is Published In September 2018, which denies that it was as recent as the misleading publications claimed.
The photo was published on Palestinian media websites, which said it showed Sinwar participating in the “return marches.”
In March of that year, and over many months, the border area between the Gaza Strip and Israel witnessed intense weekly demonstrations known as the “Great March of Return,” in which tens of thousands of Palestinians participated, demanding the right to return to their towns from which they were displaced in 1948.
