Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar is pushing for Palestinian terrorists to revive the horrifying practice of using suicide-bombs against Israelis — as the “megalomaniac” terror leader surrounds himself with hostages for his own protection, according to reports.

After Israeli officials shut down speculation that Sinwar might be dead earlier this week, White House Mideast czar Brett McGurk confirmed Wednesday that the Oct. 7 mastermind remains in power surrounded by human-shields.

“He remains — we believe — alive and in a tunnel underneath Gaza, holding hostages, and likely with hostages in his vicinity,” McGurk said in a White House call with American rabbis.

Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar has allegedly called for the terrorist group to reinstate its tactic of suicide bombings against Israel. AP

Sinwar is believed to be hiding underground from Israeli attacks, surrounded by hostages. AFP via Getty Images

McGurk stressed that Sinwar was the sole entity holding up the cease-fire proposal between Israel and Hamas that would free the remaining hostages in Gaza and lay the groundwork for the war to end.

Sinwar, however, has previously expressed zero desire to end the bloody conflict that has left more than 42,000 dead in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health.

The terror leader, who described the death toll as “necessary sacrifices,” is now calling on Palestinian terrorists to revive suicide bombings as a viable way to attack Israel, Arab intelligence officials told the Wall Street Journal.

The directive was sent out to Hamas operatives after Sinwar was named the new head in August following the assassination of former chief Ismail Haniyeh.

A terrorist working with Hamas and Islamic Jihad blew himself up near a synagogue in Tel Aviv after Sinwar issued his orders in August. AFP via Getty Images

A child looks at a hole left by the blast of the suicide bomber, who took no victims with him. AP

A few days after the notice was sent to Hamas’ branch in the West Bank, suicide bomber Ja’Far Sa’d Saeed Muna blew himself up with a backpack full of explosives in Tel Aviv.

In a video recorded before his death, Muna lavished at the thought of his bones turning to “shrapnel that blow apart the usurping Zionist Jews.”

“It is Jihad, victory, or martyrdom,” he added.

IDF soldiers are hunting for Sinwar and the remaining hostages in Hamas’ terror tunnels. AFP via Getty Images

Hamas has largely avoided suicide bombings in recent decades as the terror group’s political branch sought to legitimatize itself in its effort to have the world acknowledge a Palestinian state.

Sinwar, however, has spent much of his time in Hamas building up the group’s military wing and convincing its fighters that they are in a “holy war” against Israel that cannot end until the Jewish state is eradicated, Michael Koubi, the former Shin Bet agent who interrogated Sinwar for 180 hours, previously told The Post.

Sinwar’s vision was so violent and widely different from the rest of its leadership, that those in Hamas’ political branch in Qatar often labeled him a “megalomaniac,” sources told the WSJ.