How Israel found and killed Yahya Sinwar, top Hamas leader

Israeli troops had been hunting the Hamas leader for more than a year, who disappeared in Gaza shortly after planning the October 7 attacks.

Yahya Sinwar, 61, is said to have spent much of his time hiding in the tunnels beneath the Strip, along with a group of bodyguards and a “human shield” of hostages captured in Israel.

But it seems that It was a chance encounter with an Israeli patrol in southern Gaza that changed the course of things. It is also known that his guard team was small and that no hostages were found with him.

Many details remain unknown, but this is what is known so far about Sinwar’s death, which was confirmed this Friday by Khalil al-Hayya, deputy head of Hamas in Gaza and that organization’s main negotiator.

In a speech released on video, Al-Hayya said that Hamas will continue on its path to realize the ambitions of the Palestinian people and affirmed that they will not release the kidnapped Israelis until Israel ends its military operation and completely withdraws from Gaza.

The Israeli military says a unit from its 828th Bislamach Brigade was patrolling Tal al-Sultan, an area of ​​Rafah, on Wednesday when they identified three fighters running from house to house and attacked them. They were all eliminated.

The man, identified as Sinwar, “ran alone towards one of the buildings” and was killed after being located with a drone.

However, At the time of the shooting, Israeli forces did not know the identity from none of them. And the soldiers did not return to the scene until Thursday morning.

It was then that the bodies were inspected and they discovered that one of them had striking resemblance to Hamas leader.

However, the body remained at the site because it was suspected of being booby-trapped, and instead part of a finger was removed and sent to Israel for analysis.

Eventually, his body was taken to Israel, when the area was safe.

Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said his forces “they didn’t know it was there.”

Sinwar’s body was found with a bulletproof vest, a gun and about US$11,000 (40,000 shekels).

None of the hostages Sinwar was said to have used as human shields were present, and his small entourage suggests that he was either trying to move undetected or had lost many of those protecting him.

Hagari also said that The army had obtained clues to Sinwar’s movements when they found his DNA in a tunnel near where the bodies of six hostages were recovered about six weeks ago.

Israel is looking now to Sinwar’s brother, Muhammad Sinwarand all Hamas military commanders, Hagari said.

Yoav Gallant, Israel’s Defense Minister, said: “Sinwar died as a fugitive, not as a commander, but as someone who only cared about himself. This is a clear message to all our enemies.”

Drone footage released by the Israeli military late Thursday shows Sinwar’s final moments before he died

The video appears to have been recorded from a drone flying through the open window of a building practically destroyed.

The drone approaches a man, with his head covered, sitting in an armchair on the first floor of a house which is full of rubble.

The man, who appears to be injured, throws a stick to the drone and the video ends.

Israel announced for the first time that it was “investigating the possibility” that Sinwar had been killed in Gaza on Thursday afternoon.

A few minutes after the announcement, images published on social networks showed the body of a man with features very similar to those of the Hamas leader, who He had suffered catastrophic head injuries. The images are too graphic to publish.

However, officials warned that “at this stage” the identity of any of the three dead men could not be confirmed.

Shortly after, Israeli sources told the BBC that leaders were “increasingly certain” that he had been killed. However, they said all necessary tests had to be carried out before the death could be confirmed.

Those tests didn’t take long. On Thursday night, Israel had announced that they had been completed and that confirmed that Sinwar had been “eliminated”.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said “evil” had been dealt a “blow” but warned that the Israeli war in Gaza was not over.

Although Sinwar he did not die during a selective operationIsrael’s armed forces stated that they had been operating for weeks in areas where intelligence services indicated the possible presence of the Hamas leader.

Therefore, Israeli forces were able to determine Sinwar’s approximate location around the southern city of Rafah and were slowly advancing to capture him.

Sinwar had been on the run for more than a year. He no doubt felt Israeli pressure increasing as other Hamas leaders, such as Mohammad Dief and Ismail Haniyeh, were killed, and as Israel destroyed the infrastructure they had used to carry out the October 7 attacks.

In a statement, the Israeli army said its operations in recent weeks in the south had “restricted the operational movement of Yahya Sinwarwhich was persecuted by the forces and led to its elimination.”

Killing Sinwar was an important goal for Israel, but its end does not end the war in Gaza.

On Friday, a member of Hamas’s political office, Basem Naim, said in a statement that it appears that “Israel believes that Killing our leaders means the end of our movement and the struggle of the Palestinian people“, but said that Hamas as a movement cannot be eliminated.

Naim did not directly name Sinwar or confirm his death, but said “it is very painful and distressing to lose dear people.”

Although Netanyahu said that had “set scores”, insisted that the war would continueespecially to save the 101 hostages still held by Hamas.

“To the dear families of the hostages I say: this is an important moment in the war. We will continue with all our strength until all their loved ones, our loved ones, are home.”

In Israel, the families of the hostages said they hoped it could now be reach a ceasefire that would bring the hostages home.

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