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Skip to contentSkip to site indexSearch & Section NavigationSection Navigation SEARCH Try 7 days freeLog in Israel-Hamas War * liveUpdates May 27, 2024, 5:03 p.m. ET12m ago 12m ago * Photos * Dire Access to Aid * A Fateful Encounter * I.C.J. Order * Recognizing a Palestinian State Yahya Sinwar, left, and Dr. Yuval Bitton at Israel’s Beersheba prison complex, during negotiations for a prisoner swap that would lead to Mr. Sinwar’s 2011 release. THE HAMAS CHIEF AND THE ISRAELI WHO SAVED HIS LIFE In an Israeli prison infirmary, a Jewish dentist came to the aid of a desperately ill Hamas inmate. Years later, the prisoner became a mastermind of the Oct. 7 attack. Yahya Sinwar, left, and Dr. Yuval Bitton at Israel’s Beersheba prison complex, during negotiations for a prisoner swap that would lead to Mr. Sinwar’s 2011 release.Credit... Supported by SKIP ADVERTISEMENT * Share full article * * * Read in app By Jo Becker and Adam Sella Jo Becker reported from Tel Aviv, and Adam Sella from Nir Oz, Israel. Since the early days of the Israel-Hamas war, they have traced the aftereffects of a fateful encounter between Yahya Sinwar and Dr. Yuval Bitton. * May 26, 2024 This is how Dr. Yuval Bitton remembers the morning of Oct. 7. Being jolted awake just after sunrise by the insistent ringing of his phone. The frantic voice of his daughter, who was traveling abroad, asking, “Dad, what’s happened in Israel? Turn on the TV.” News anchors were still piecing together the reports: Palestinian gunmen penetrating Israel’s vaunted defenses, infiltrating more than 20 towns and military bases, killing approximately 1,200 people and dragging more than 240 men, women and children into Gaza as hostages. Even in that first moment, Dr. Bitton says, he knew with certainty who had masterminded the attack: Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza and Inmate No. 7333335 in the Israeli prison system from 1989 until his release in a prisoner swap in 2011. But that was not all. Dr. Bitton had a history with Yahya Sinwar. As he watched the images of terror and death flicker across his screen, he was tormented by a decision he had made nearly two decades before — how, working in a prison infirmary, he had come to the aid of a mysteriously and desperately ill Mr. Sinwar, and how afterward the Hamas leader had told him that “he owed me his life.” Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT The two men had then formed a relationship of sorts, sworn enemies who nevertheless showed a wary mutual respect. As a dentist and later as a senior intelligence officer for the Israeli prison service, Dr. Bitton had spent hundreds of hours talking with and analyzing Mr. Sinwar, who in the seven months since Oct. 7 has eluded Israel’s forces even as their assault on Gaza has killed tens of thousands and turned much of the enclave to rubble. Now American officials believe Mr. Sinwar is calling the shots for Hamas in negotiations over a deal for a cease-fire and the release of some of the hostages. Dr. Bitton saw that, in a sense, everything that had passed between himself and Mr. Sinwar was a premonition of the events now coming to pass. He understood the way Mr. Sinwar’s mind worked as well as or better than any Israeli official. He knew from experience that the price the Hamas leader would demand for the hostages might well be one Israel would be unwilling to pay. The map locates the Nir Oz kibbutz, east of the Gaza Strip in Israel. It also locates the Beersheba prison complex, south of the city of Beersheba in the Negev Desert. Mediterranean Sea West Bank Tel Aviv ISRAEl Jerusalem Dead Sea Gaza City GAZA STRIP Nir Oz Beersheba Beersheba prison complex NEGEV DESERT EGYPT Jordan Eilat 20 miles By The New York Times Subscribe to The Times to read as many articles as you like. Jo Becker is a reporter in the investigative unit and a four-time Pulitzer Prize winner. She is the author of “Forcing the Spring: Inside the Fight for Marriage Equality.” More about Jo Becker See more on: Israel-Hamas War News, Hamas * Share full article * * * Read in app Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT SITE INDEX SITE INFORMATION NAVIGATION * © 2024 The New York Times Company * NYTCo * Contact Us * Accessibility * Work with us * Advertise * T Brand Studio * Your Ad Choices * Privacy Policy * Terms of Service * Terms of Sale * Site Map * Canada * International * Help * Subscriptions Enjoy unlimited access to all of The Times. See subscription options