TEL AVIV, August 26. /TASS/. Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar lives underground in the Gaza Strip and moves around crowded streets wearing women’s clothes in a bid to escape being targeted by the Israeli military, the Maariv newspaper reported.

According to the newspaper, some ten days ago Israeli troops just missed capturing Sinwar in a tunnel in Gaza where he was hiding out. "His (Sinwar’s - TASS) coffee was still hot," the newspaper said, citing sources. Since then, "he has been trying to blend in with crowds" in a "women’s dress" so he is not spotted by Israeli drones, it said.

The Israeli army believes that Sinwar’s arrest or killing would mean the collapse of Hamas’ leadership hierarchy and its subsequent dissolution, Maariv said, adding that Hamas leaders change their shelters every 24-36 hours. The movement’s political bureau is so worried about its security that last week it "added conditions" to ensure its safety to the list of demands at the hostage release talks in Cairo.

On August 12, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that Israel sees Sinwar as the only obstacle standing in the way of getting a hostage deal done. Sinwar was elected Hamas leader in early August after the death of Ismail Haniyeh who was killed in Tehran. Israel still has not commented on Haniyeh’s death.

The latest round of indirect talks on the hostage release and Gaza ceasefire deal was held in Cairo on August 25. The previous meeting of the mediators took place in Doha ten days prior.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 240 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.

According to the latest data from the Israeli side, as many as 109 people are still held hostage in Gaza.