This is the disturbing moment when visibly bloodied Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar weakly throws a stick to fend off an IDF drone seconds before being killed by Israeli forces in Gaza.
Images captured by the remote-controlled machine show Sinwar, whom Israel considered primarily responsible for the “massacre and atrocities of October 7,” almost camouflaged in the rubble of a bombed building.
But toward the back of what was once a living room, the drone points to Israel’s top target sitting in a dusty chair, his head covered with a scarf to conceal his identity.
Sinwar can be seen looking directly at the drone, peeking only through the small gap in the wrap covering his face, with his right hand wounded by bullets.
In his left hand, he briefly holds a stick before slowly throwing it towards the drone.
This is the disturbing moment when visibly bloodied Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was identified as a terrorist by an IDF drone just seconds before he was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza.
The drone flew into what was once a living room inside a bombed-out building in Gaza.
Images captured by the remotely controlled machine show Sinwar, whom Israel considers primarily responsible for the “massacre and atrocities of October 7”, almost camouflaged in the rubble of a bombed building.
Sinwar can be seen looking directly at the drone, peeking only through the small gap in the wrap covering his face, with his right hand wounded by bullets.
The footage ends with Israeli forces fatally attacking the building moments later.
IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari confirmed that the Hamas leader had died and released the images hours after the assassination took place. The Jerusalem Post information.
During a press conference on Thursday, he said a drone had identified three terrorists fleeing between buildings in Gaza.
He said: ‘Sinwar fled alone to one of the buildings.
‘Here you can see Sinwar, who was wounded in the hand by gunshots, with his face covered, in his final moments, throwing a wooden board at the drone.
“We identified him as a terrorist inside a building, we shot at the building and then we went in to look for him.
‘We found him with a vest, a gun and 40,000 shekels. “He was fleeing, fleeing, and our forces eliminated him.”
Hagari added: ‘Sinwar was responsible for the most brutal attack on Israel in our history when terrorists from Gaza invaded Israel, massacred Israelis in their homes, raped our women, burned entire families alive and took away more than 250 men, women and children. and children, babies. Gaza hostage.
‘Over the past year, Sinwar attempted to escape justice. Failure. We said we would find him and bring him to justice, and we did.
“It was Yahya Sinwar who decided to wage war on Israel while hiding behind civilians in Gaza.”
He added that 101 hostages remain captive in “brutal conditions.”
Israel’s foreign minister also confirmed the news on Thursday..
“Mass murderer Yahya Sinwar, responsible for the massacre and atrocities of October 7, was killed today by IDF soldiers,” Israel Katz said in a statement.
IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari confirmed the Hamas leader’s death, adding: “Sinwar was responsible for the most brutal attack against Israel in our history.”
He said Sinwar’s death was “a great military and moral achievement for Israel,” adding that his death opens the possibility for the “immediate release of the hostages” and a change “that will lead to a new reality in Gaza” without Hamas. nor Iran. control’.
Troops reported identifying a group of terrorists in a building at an undisclosed location in Gaza. After an exchange of gunfire, a tank shell was said to have hit the structure and collapsed it.
Graphic images purporting to show the Hamas leader’s body surrounded by Israeli soldiers circulated on the Internet.
Israeli soldiers surround a corpse that resembles Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
Israel accuses Sinwar (pictured) of masterminding the unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel that sparked the war.
David H. Petraeus, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, said the killing of Yahya Sinwar was “bigger” than the 2011 killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
Speaking to Radio 4’s PM programme, he said: “It’s hard to overstate how important this is.”
‘This is bigger than Osama Bin Laden, who was hugely symbolic but not as operational…
“This is hugely symbolic, after all he was the absolute leader of Hamas… but also hugely operational.”
Sinwar had been a prime target of Israeli forces since October 7, but Israel had reportedly hesitated to carry out an assassination attempt amid reports that he was surrounded by Israeli hostages and carrying a bag full of explosives.
Sinwar is believed to have been moving from location to location without the hostages since late August, when six hostages (Carmel Gat, Hirsch Goldberg-Poulin, Alex Lubnov, Almog Sarosi, Uri Danino and the late Aden Yerushalmi) were found dead. in a tunnel, according to a new report from N12.
Israeli troops reported no signs of hostages at the site where he was killed today.
Israel previously reported that it was conducting dental and DNA tests to determine whether Sinwar was among the victims of the attack.
The Israeli police told the bbc that Sinwar’s body was identified through dental records and fingerprints.
Sinwar was imprisoned in Israel for 22 years.
US President Joe Biden was also briefed today by senior advisers about Sinwar’s possible death, a White House official said.
Asked whether the UK government would want action in Gaza to be reduced if Sinwar’s death was confirmed, a Number 10 spokeswoman said: “We support their right to self-defence and to prevent such a terrorist attack from happening again. “.
“As you know, Hamas is a banned terrorist organization.”
He added that the government’s “priorities” remain securing a ceasefire, bringing more aid to Gaza and securing the release of Israeli hostages.
British Defense Secretary John Healey said before the announcement of Sinwar’s death: “I, for one, will not mourn the death of a terrorist leader like Sinwar, someone who was responsible for the October 7 terrorist attack.”
Sinwar is widely considered to be the main architect of the October 7 attacks on Israel, in which Hamas and other terrorist groups killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostage, according to Israeli counts.
After the massacre, IDF spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht vowed that Israeli troops would not rest until they found and killed him, declaring him a “dead man walking.”
The black and white images (one of them pictured above), supposedly taken on October 10, show a man said to be Sinwar being led through a tunnel along with a woman and three children; They are said to be his first since the war between Israel and Hamas. burst
Sinwar had remained elusive during the year-long war in Gaza, hiding in Hamas’ network of tunnels beneath the Strip.
The only apparent glimpse of him came in a video filmed just a couple of days after the bloody conflict broke out.
The black and white footage, discovered by IDF troops during a raid earlier this year, shows a man believed to be Sinwar walking through a tunnel along with his wife and three children, while carrying a large bag. .
‘In that bag there are about 25 kg of dynamite. There are at least 20 hostages around him,” according to Kobi Michael, Sinwar’s former Shin Bet interrogator.
“Some times we have had the opportunity to kill him, but if we do, he will kill all the hostages around him.”
Sinwar became the new leader of the Iran-backed Palestinian group following the assassination of his former political chief Ismail Haniyeh in July.
Hamas and Iran blame Israel for Haniyeh’s killing in an attack in Tehran, but Israel has not commented.
Sinwar became the new leader of the Iran-backed Palestinian group following the assassination of his former political chief Ismail Haniyeh (left) in July.
Israel’s announcement about Sinwar comes weeks after it killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in a massive attack in Lebanon, where its army has escalated the war since late September.
Many other Iranian-backed militant commanders have also been killed in recent months.
Israel said earlier this year that it had killed Mohammed Deif, the Hamas military chief, in an attack, although the Palestinian group has not confirmed this.
Deif was accused of working with Sinwar to plan the October 7 attack.
With Hamas greatly weakened more than a year into the Gaza war, Sinwar’s death, if confirmed, would deal a seismic blow to the organization.
