Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth reports that leaked Hamas documents that purported to show plans to smuggle Israeli captives out of Gaza were forged.
Speaking to military officials, the Israeli outlet says the documents were leaked in an attempt to influence public opinion and present a view that Hamas and its leader, Yahya Sinwar, were uninterested in a ceasefire deal and attempting to pin the failure to reach an agreement on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The documents were used by the UK’s Jewish Chronicle and Germany’s Bild.
The Jewish Chronicle claimed that documents seized by the Israeli army in Gaza on 29 August revealed a plan to smuggle captives from Gaza to Egypt across the Philadelphi corridor buffer zone, and then to Iran.
Sinwar, who the Jewish Chronicle said was behind the plan, was also alleged to be planning his escape. ….more