Yahya Sinwar killed while heading to Egypt, say U.S. and Egyptian intelligence sources

Yahya al-Sinwar, in an undated image, killed Oct. 17, 2024. (IDF)

On Wednesday, before Israeli forces killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi replaced the head of Egypt’s General Intelligence Service. It was a sudden decision. And it may provide some insight into what the architect behind last year’s October 7 attack was attempting, according to a former senior U.S. intelligence officer with a background in the Middle East.

He spoke with numerous current and former Egyptian intelligence officers and told me Sinwar “was within two kilometers from the Philadelphi corridor and very, very close to Egypt… He had a vest. And he was being smuggled,” the man said on the condition of anonymity. 

And the director of Egypt’s General Intelligence Service (EGIS), Maj. Gen. Abbas Kamel — considered the second most powerful figure in Egypt after al-Sisi — “was not a fan of having Sinwar come to Egypt.” 

His intelligence service, a rough equivalent to the CIA, has been ideologically split between supporting Hamas and opposing it. The camp that supports Hamas believes that maintaining a relationship affords them influence and leverage. “They did this with the Muslim Brotherhood,” the source said. “They played with fire. It came back after them.”

But Kamel belonged to the other camp. “Abbas is a patriot in Egyptian terms,” the former intelligence officer said. Kamel likely calculated that Sinwar’s arrival would make Egypt vulnerable to Israel’s wrath, in light of recent Mossad operations — including the assassinations of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon and Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran.

The former intelligence officer said Sinwar’s turn to Egypt may have been motivated by the example of Khaled Mashal. The Palestinian served as chairman of Hamas’ political bureau and has been living for years in Doha, where the terrorist organization enjoys an office. “This is not just about Sinwar coming. This is about an organization opening an office, an interest section really.” So initial efforts to keep Sinwar’s whereabouts secret would eventually break. “People in the intel service would be all over that,” he said. “They'll be managing every movement of any Hamas members.” 

The Israel Defense Force credited Sinwar’s death to intelligence from its domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet and military intelligence service Amman. But the source says Kamel may have also tipped off Mossad to Sinwar’s ambitions. “Abbas and his team are in touch with the Mossad, the CIA, and they're traveling. They're meeting at hotels in Qatar and other parts of the world. Unsupervised,” he told me. Kamel had excellent relations with Mossad and Shin Bet “and he knew that the Israelis would not be happy.” 

Egypt has also maintained a relationship with Hamas through backchannels, according to the former intelligence officer. He says that weapons found in the so-called Philadelphi corridor, a sliver of land that Israel says has been used to replenish Hamas’ arsenal, was “very embarrassing for Egypt” — especially in terms of its relationship with the United States. The only entity in Egypt that would have access to such weapons is the Egyptian military, he added. “Abbas was not able to make it go away.” 

On Wednesday, Kamel was stopped in his overseas activities and essentially demoted by being promoted to a higher position with less power, as an advisor to al-Sisi. “One thing that Egyptian presidents fear most are the head of intelligence services,” the source said. “Because they wield so much power. They know all the secrets. So [al-Sisi] would want to keep him closer, but really he's just a figurehead now.”

He was replaced by Maj. Gen. Hassan Rashad. In contrast to Kamel, who had close ties to the CIA and Mossad, Rashad headed the Iran portfolio. He is considered the country’s most knowledgeable official in affairs with Tehran, according to the former intelligence officer. “This could be a strategic shift for Egypt.”

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