IDF says 'mission is not over' until hostages are returned: 'We will not rest'

The Israel Defense Forces said that the war in Gaza is not over following the killing of Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’ top leader and the mastermind of the terrorist group’s Oct. 7 attack, and will continue until the hostages taken amid that day's massacre are returned.

IDF Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari released declassified footage showing Sinwar hours before the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, as well as his movements in Gaza as he fled over the past year. Hagari said 101 hostages remain held in Gaza after a year in captivity under "ruthless conditions." 

"Killing Sinwar is the result of a year of operational and intelligence efforts to bring him and other Hamas leaders to justice. Sinwar has been eliminated. But our mission is not over," Hagari said in a video statement on Saturday. "We will not rest until we bring all our hostages home by any means possible. And we will continue to defend the people of Israel from all threats on all of our borders." 

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Israeli army spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari speaks to the press from The Kirya, which houses the Israeli Ministry of Defence, in Tel Aviv on Oct. 18, 2023. (GIL COHEN-MAGEN/AFP via Getty Images)

Hours before the Oct. 7 attacks, during which Hamas terrorists murdered approximately 1,200 Israelis and took hundreds more as hostages into Gaza, Sinwar was captured on video alone hiding his family and equipment, including beds, pillows, food, water and a TV in an underground tunnel network, Hagari said. 

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While Sinwar's location was kept classified while he ordered the attacks from the underground tunnels, "this was a luxury that the people of Gaza did not have as Sinwar always prioritized himself, his money and the Hamas terrorists over the people of Gaza," Hagari said. "Each step was planned to maximize harm to Israeli and Gazan civilians and to minimize harm to himself and other terrorists."

Banners with the photograph of Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader who was killed in the Israeli attack, are hung on the streets in Tehran, Iran on Oct. 19, 2024.  (Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images)

"Throughout the war that Sinwar started, he continued to hide underneath the people of Gaza," Hagari said.

In February, Hagari said Israeli troops found Sinwar's underground hideout in Khan Yunis that included money, food, beds, documents, a shower and a kitchen. IDF operations in Khan Yunis forced Sinwar to flee to Rafah last month, Hagari said. 

Sinwar's DNA was recovered on a piece of tissue "a few hundred meters" from a tunnel where six Israeli hostages were executed in Rafah before Sinwar fled again, Hagari said. 

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"When Sinwar was running for his life and went above the ground, this was the first and last time that he encountered Israeli soldiers in combat," Hagari said. "Sinwar was eliminated by the IDF in Rafah last Wednesday. I want to emphasize it again: This was the first and last time he encountered Israeli soldiers, and he was eliminated. There were no hostages with Sinwar when he was eliminated."