CIA Director Calls Hamas Leaders Face Pressure From Military Commander To End War In Gaza

CIA Director William Burns. (Wikimedia Commons/East Asia and Pacific Media Hub/US Department of State)

JAKARTA - The head of intelligence of the United States (CIA) William Burns said his agency assessed the pressure on the Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, the bigger he was than his military commander to accept the ceasefire agreement and end the war.

That was said by Burns in a closed conference on Saturday, said a source attending the meeting.

Sinwar was not "worry about his death" but faced pressure for being blamed for the amount of suffering in Gaza, Burns said at the conference, according to the source, as reported by CNN July 16.

US intelligence officials believe Sinwar is hiding in a tunnel under his birthplace, Khan Younis in Gaza. He is the main decision maker for Hamas regarding whether to accept the deal.

Burns, who has been carrying out heated negotiations for months as an important person for the Biden administration, said the Israeli and Hamas governments were obliged to take advantage of this moment, more than nine months since the war began, to reach a ceasefire.

However, the internal pressure Sinwar has faced has only occurred in the past two weeks, including a phone call from its own senior commander who is tired of this fighting, Burns said, according to the source.

The CIA declined to comment on this.

The increasing pressure on Sinwar comes as Hamas and Israel have agreed to a framework agreement set by President Joe Biden in late May.

That's what Washington officials say is the basis for the deal to end the fighting.

Burns himself just returned from a trip to the Middle East last week, trying to continue negotiations over the Gaza ceasefire and a hostage-taking deal, meeting with mediators from Qatar and Egypt, as well as Israel's foreign intelligence chief.

Of the three most senior Hamas leaders in Gaza, Israel is believed to have found and killed Marwan Issa, the second to lead the militant group's military wing.

His military chief, Mohammed Def, was targeted by Israel in a bombing on Saturday that killed nearly 100 Palestinians and injured hundreds more, according to Palestinian health officials.

Neither Israel nor the US have confirmed whether Defif has been targeted.

US officials believe that Sinwar no longer wants to rule Gaza, with both Israel and Hamas having signed a "temporary government" plan that will begin in the second phase of the ceasefire, where none of them will control Gaza, a US official told CNN.