 "Did Yahya Sinwar’s wife carry a Rs 26 lakh Birkin bag as she went into hiding?")
Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of last year’s October 7 attacks, was Israel’s most wanted man. He was killed last Thursday (October 17) in Rafah, where he was forced to flee. Now the spotlight is on his wife Abu Zamar who was seen inside a Gaza tunnel with what appears to be a super luxe bag – a Hermes Birkin handbag that reportedly costs $32,000 (Rs 26,89,961).
Abu Zamar’s luxury bag
Footage released by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) shows Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar and his family fleeing into a Gaza tunnel hours before the October 7 terror attacks last year.
Sinwar’s wife Abu Zamar can be seen helping her two sons through a bunker at 10.45 pm on October 6 2023, according to a timestamped footage released by the IDF on Saturday (October 19). However, what has now become a talking point is the bag Zamar was carrying.
If IDF spokesperson Avichay is to be believed, the hijab-clad woman is seen with a Hermes Birkin 40 Black Toga handbag costing $32,000 (Rs 26,89,961).
“While Gaza residents have no money for food, we see many examples of Yahya Sinwar and his wife’s special love for money,” Adraee wrote on X, alongside a screenshot of the woman holding what appeared to be a luxury black leather purse.
“Did Sinwar’s wife enter the tunnel with him on October 6 carrying a Birkin bag estimated to cost around $32,000?!” he added.
هل زوجة السنوار دخلت معه إلى النفق في السادس من أكتوبر وبحوزتها حقيبة لشركة بيركين التي تقدر كلفتها بنحو 32 ألف دولار؟! أترك لكم التعليق.
— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) October 19, 2024
بينما لا يملك سكان غزة الأموال الكافية لخيمة أو للمواد الأساسية نرى أمثلة كثيرة لحب يحيي السنوار وزوجته الخاص للأموال… pic.twitter.com/sGft4Qg9s8
“Sinwar’s wife caught in this photo sneaking to the tunnels the night before October 7th – get this – clutching a $32,000 Hermes Birkin bag! While Gazans endured hardship under Hamas, Sinwar and his family were shamelessly living in luxury, indulging while sending others to die,” said a post by X handle Israel, run by the country’s foreign ministry.
Zamar is seen in the footage following her husband, who is holding plastic bags in his hand. When she notices the camera above, she briefly stops and smiles.
Sinwar going underground on October 6 - just before the massacre pic.twitter.com/qbal10ifd4
— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) October 19, 2024
The Birkin is a much sought-after and beloved bag owned by billionaires and celebrities. The Kardashians and former US First Lady Melania Trump have been photographed with similar handbags.
However, getting your hands on the bag named after actress Jane Birkin is not as easy. You cannot just walk into the store and purchase one. You have to reach directly to the stores and boutiques that will help you make the purchase. However, the wait could be months or years. Even second-hand bags are sold at auction houses like Sotheby’s.
Hence, questions have been raised about the authenticity of the bag carried by Sinwar’s wife.
Is Zamar’s bag a fake?
The designer bag has caught the attention of those in fashion circles and among the affluent, with some saying that it is a fake Birkin.
An Israeli businesswoman and singer Nicole Reidman believes that the bag is a knockoff and has labelled it garbage. “I’m an ambassador for Hermes, I’m invited to store openings all over the world and invited to shows so I know everything about the brand. Sinwar’s wife’s bag, in my opinion, is not a Hermès,” she was quoted as saying by Ynetnews, an Israeli daily.
“To me, it looks like just trash. The handles, the folding of the sides of the bag, there’s fabric sticking out, all this shows that it is not a Hermes,” she added.
Israeli entrepreneur Eran Erfat wrote on X, “It’s not a Birkin.”
“Birkin 40 Togo is a very large (travel) bag! (Hermes’ biggest Birkin)… And although she is a big woman, she is not so big that the bag looks like a kindergarten sandwich bag… If Adri had an iota of patience and Google available, he would have checked and seen that during the video, when you see the back of the bag, you can recognize that it is not the same bag,” his post read. “Simply because the Birkin does not have such a shape in its rear.”
טוב לא נעים לי לבאס לאביחי אדרעי את הערב אבל אין ברירה והוא כבר חגג מספיק על הטעות…(:
— Eran Efrat (@Eran_Efrat) October 19, 2024
זה לא בירקין.
בירקין 40 טוגו הוא תיק (נסיעות) גדול מאד! (הבירקין הכי גדול של הרמס)
ועל אף שהיא אישה גדולה, היא לא כל כך גדולה בכדי שהתיק יראה עליה כמו תיק סנדביצ׳ים של הגן…
אם היה לאדרעי טיפה… https://t.co/YLdgrSuGca pic.twitter.com/q1pDmCQs2c
Journalist Yanir Cozin also questioned if the bag was fake. “… without a big understanding of Birkin, it doesn’t resemble the Birkin bag in the picture, it looks more like an imitation/fake.”
However, stylist Liat Ashroy disagrees. ‘I’m sure that Sinwar’s wife has an authentic bag. If it was someone on the street in Turkey, I would think she bought a fake, but here, there’s no way she would take a knockoff. Anything she would get would have to be a special delivery and it doesn’t seem likely to me,” she told Ynetnews.
Hamas leaders are known to lead a life of comfort and luxury even as Gazans continue to suffer. Sinwar had an estimated net worth of $ 1 million (Rs 8.4 crore) to $3 million (Rs 25.2 crore). He was found with $10,000 (Rs 8.4 lakh)in cash and an ID for a United Relations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) teacher on his body after his death, according to a report in The New York Post.
However, Soch Fact Check, an independent fact-checking organisation, has carried out an analysis of the image showing Sinwar’s wife with the bag along with a Hermes Birkin 40 Black Togo bag and found that it the bag in question is not a Birkin, after all.
The agency said that the bag carried by Sinwar’s wife was not a Birkin, as the handles vary. It added that the handles of the Birkin bag are not secured with metal clasps at the bottom, which are visible on the bag carried by Sinwar’s wife in the image. Moreover, unlike the Birkin, her bag does not seem to have the gold padlock or the leather stitching above it.
Zamar’s life
Sinwar married Abu Zamar in 2011, weeks after the Hamas chief was released from an Israeli prison in a prisoner swap. The forty-four-year-old Zamar has lived a private life since the marriage.
She was born to an affluent family, a well-known Palestinian tribe, in Gaza that supports Hamas. She reportedly earned a master’s degree in religious studies from the Islamic University of Gaza, where she was a teacher. She is a devout, hijab-wearing woman who only leaves her eyes exposed, reports Jerusalem Post.
Zamar is known for having complete faith in her husband, undeterred by his terror activities, having been brought up in a household that believes in hostility toward Israel. Now with Sinwar’s death, her future remains uncertain.
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With inputs from agencies_
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