When he first met Hamas chief and Oct. 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar in 1988, Israel’s high interrogator knew he was staring into the eyes of a radicalized madman hellbent on eradicating Israel.
“I noticed a person with murderous eyes, stuffed with nothing however hate,” former Shin Wager agent Michael Koubi, 79, instructed The Put up.
After spending 180 hours with Sinwar following his arrest and imprisonment by Israel’s intelligence offended, Koubi stated he got here to know the terrorist’s one, true aim: to kill all Jews.
As Israel marks one 12 months for the reason that horrific Oct. 7 terrorist assault that was orchestrated by Sinwar, Koubi stated the Hamas chief would by no means conform to a ceasefire, and that peace can’t be restored to the area as long as the Hamas chief nonetheless lives.
“Sinwar won’t ever, by no means, by no means settle for peace,” Koubi stated. “So long as he’s alive, he’ll perform one other bloodbath. He have to be killed.”
Israel stated final month that the whereabouts of the Oct. 7 mastermind are unknown and that he hasn’t been heard from in weeks.
It stays unclear the place Sinwar is hiding within the Gaza Strip since he disappeared in Hamas’ tunnel system along with his household on Oct. 10, 2023 — with reviews rising that he is likely to be lifeless. US and Israeli intelligence has discovered no proof that he was killed.
Earlier than he turned the chief of Hamas in August, Sinwar grew up in a Khan Younis refugee camp, the place he rapidly turned radicalized by the adults round him.
By the age of 13, Sinwar instructed Koubi that he would attend public sermons led by Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, a disabled man notorious for his capability to control the Quran to justify violent jihadism.
Yassin was the primary Hamas member Koubi interrogated when Israeli brokers arrested lots of of members of the fledgling group over the homicide of two IDF troopers.
When it got here time to talk with Sinwar, Koubi was horrified to be taught of the brutal atrocities the Hamas agent dedicated in opposition to his personal individuals, together with the 4 Palestinians who have been discovered with the Israeli troops.
“He talked about beheading one suspect,” Koubi recalled. “He talked about one other sufferer who he took, had them dig a grave, after which buried him alive .”
“Even in spite of everything I’ve heard in my profession, I used to be shocked at what he was telling me,” he added.
“How can somebody be so grotesque? How can a person be this merciless?”
Sinwar’s ruthless techniques in searching down suspected Palestinian spies earned him the nickname, “The Butcher of Khan Younis,” which garnered him respect and adoration from different Hamas operatives.
As he boasted in regards to the 12 individuals he allegedly killed for Hamas, Sinwar additionally bragged about how a lot he beloved radicalizing younger Palestinians and educating them violence and antisemitism.
Sinwar recounted how he visited considered one of Gaza’s kindergartens and separated the toddlers into two teams, Palestinians and Israelis.
“He spoke one time about giving rubber knives to the youngsters and made a recreation of who might kill probably the most Jews,” the previous Israeli agent stated.
Following their months collectively throughout Sinwar’s interrogations, Koubi took consolation figuring out that Sinwar would keep behind bars for the remainder of his life.
However, in 2011 Israel agreed to launch him and greater than 1,000 different prisoners in alternate for the liberty of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.
When Koubi realized that Sinwar was one of many bargaining chips, the retired agent reached out to his former superiors to warn them on what would occur if The Butcher of Khan Younis was let out.
“I warned them that if he have been ever launched, Gaza would turn into a state of terror,” Koubi recalled.
After being launched from jail, Sinwar returned to the Gaza Strip as a hero whose fame propelled him to the highest of Hamas’ Gaza department, the place he organized the brutal Oct. 7 bloodbath through which terrorists slaughtered greater than 1,200 individuals and kidnapped 251.
Sinwar was picked to steer the terrorist group following former chief Ismail Haniyeh’s assassination in July, with the Gaza chief appointed the brand new head over others who have been considered favored for the place.
Whereas Israel has vowed to kill him for plotting the Oct. 7 assault that kicked off the battle in Gaza, Israeli officers have repeatedly supplied Sinwar exile and security in alternate for the return of the hostages.
Koubi, nevertheless, fears that letting Sinwar go but once more will solely result in one other terrorist assault on the Jewish state.
“I do know him higher than anybody, and he’s a hazard to the world,” he stated. “The one resolution is to kill him.”
