TEL AVIV, November 27. /TASS/. Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar visited a group of hostages that were held in Gaza to assure them they were safe, Israel’s Channel 12 television reported.

The report cited one of the hostages that were released recently as part of the Gaza truce.

The woman said she and some other hostages were held in an underground tunnel in Gaza when a man came to talk to them, introducing himself as Yahya Sinwar. He spoke in Hebrew without an accent, telling them they were safe, according to the television report.

The woman’s account has been confirmed by Israeli officials who conversed with her, Channel 12 said.

Yahya Sinwar is the chief of Hamas in Gaza and one of the founders of the group’s military wing. He spent more than 22 years in Israeli prisons and is fluent in Hebrew. He was released in 2011 as part of a deal to swap 1,027 Palestinian prisoners for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who had been taken hostage by Palestinian radicals in 2006.