He also told negotiators to refuse making any concessions during talks.
Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas commander who masterminded the October 7 massacre, reportedly told Hamas officials based outside of Gaza to reject any deals to return the hostages in-part because the Biden-Harris administration was beginning to turn on Israel.
The information was featured in a report from The Wall Street Journal about the effort that went in to locating and killing Sinwar after he spent a year on the run following the attacks.
He told Hamas’ political leadership to refuse making any concessions and to prolong negotiations for as long as possible because “high civilian casualties would create worldwide pressure on Israel,” the report said.
Around March, Sinwar urged them to “refuse a hostage deal,” the report said.
He said that Hamas, an Iranian-backed terrorist organization, had the upper hand — in part because of “mounting U.S. pressure to alleviate the suffering in Gaza.”
