In a windowless room, somewhere in the bowels of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) headquarters, Chief of Staff Lt Gen Herzi Halevi jabbed his index finger forward.

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is unrepentant about the Oct. 7 attacks a year ago, people in contact with him say, despite unleashing an Israeli invasion that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians,

After his release, Sinwar rose in the Hamas ranks. In 2017, he became the Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip. Then after Ismail Haniyeh was killed in a suspected Israeli attack in Tehran this year, he became the chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau, or the group's de facto leader.