“I want to pick up a Kalashnikov and shoot Jews.”

This Friday marks the second anniversary of the death of one of the most notorious terrorists of all time. On October 16, 2024, Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip managed to kill Yahya Sinwar, the leader of the terrorist organization Hamas. His elimination is considered a major military and symbolic success for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Because Sinwar was the main person responsible for the Hamas massacre in Israel on October 7, 2023, the largest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust. Now an apparently authentic letter from Sinwar's then ten-year-old son Ibrahim is said to provide disturbing insights into the terrorist boss's educational methods. Ibrahim sent the letter to his father before his death. The content shows that Ibrahim Sinwar was taught to hate Jews from an early age. The letter is available exclusively to WELT. It literally says:

“I, Ibrahim

When are you coming back and sleeping with me in my arms again?”

Drawings by Ibrahim are attached to the letter. It shows, among other things, a tank with Hebrew characters, armed fighters, rockets and what appears to be a military border facility. The letter continues:

In my free time I make pistols, tanks and Kalashnikovs out of paper and cardboard.

Oh Lord, may the war end and I may see you safely again.

May Allah protect you, father. I want you to pray for me.

Peace be upon you and Allah’s mercy and blessings.”

According to WELT's research, the letter was found by Israeli soldiers in a building in Rafah, the town in the southern Gaza Strip where Yahya Sinwar was killed. When asked by WELT, a spokeswoman for the Israeli armed forces explains: "Even two years after the killing of Yahya Sinwar, the murderous ideology that he propagated continues to shape the Gaza Strip. The letter and the drawings illustrate how Sinwar's murderous ideology is reflected in the upbringing of his children. They show what influence the values of hatred and violence propagated by Hamas have on the young generation in the Gaza Strip."

As WELT learned during research in the Gaza Strip, Hamas, which has been weakened by Israel's fight against terror, is now also recruiting minors. Islamist ideology of violence and hatred of Jews in the Gaza Strip are already present in the minds of children. This is also proven by eyewitness reports from October 7, 2023. Alon Gat, who was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists along with his wife and three-year-old daughter, remembers the encounter with a child who had run from the Gaza Strip to Kibbutz Be'eri to loot: "The boy was about twelve years old. I'm sure he had seen the bodies before. He looked at me and my daughter, and I looked at him. And I could see in his “He didn’t really care about the people.”

Jan Philipp Burgard is Axel Springer Global Reporter for the Middle East.