Hamas masterminds key targets of Israel's 'dead man walking' threats
Hamas's October 7 attacks sit at the top of Israel's hit list as it threatens that every member of the militant group faces death when it invades Gaza.
Military strategist Mohammed Deif and political leader Yahya Sinwar have already spent time in Israeli or Palestinian jails and been the targets of multiple assassination attempts.
The hunt for the two most senior Hamas leaders in the beleagueredGaza Strip will be fierce this time.
In the war of words leading up to the impending ground offensive, Israel has said that Sinwar is «a dead man walking».
Over 1,400 people, the majority civilians, have died since the October 7 attack in Israel, which has responded with an aerial bombing campaign on Gaza that has killed over 3,700 people, also mostly civilians.
«Hamas terrorists have two options: Be killed or surrender unconditionally.
There is no third option,» Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said.
Hamas spokesmen have responded that the Palestinian Islamist group is «not scared».
Security sources outside Gaza say Deif and Sinwar have been embedded in the enclave's network of tunnels — built to resist Israel's air assault — since hundreds of Hamas fighters crossed the border to hit kibbutz communities, towns and military bases.
But even before the latest Hamas assault, the pair spent years operating in the shadows.
Israel has particularly singled out the 61-year-old Sinwar who was elected Hamas leader in Gaza in 2017 after Ismail Haniyeh went into exile.
Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht called Sinwar the «face of evil» and declared him a «dead man walking».
Sinwar was one of the founding members of Hamas during the first Palestinian intifada, or uprising, in 1987 and rose through the ranks as
