Yahya Sinwar, the architect of the October 7 massacre and Israel’s most wanted man, was murdered on Wednesday after being pursued by intelligence services and the Israel Defense Forces for more than a year.
Ultimately, his assassination was apparently by chance, as the group of soldiers-in-training responsible for the Hamas chief’s death did not know his true identity at the time, according to reports.
Israeli officials have said the 61-year-old man, long nicknamed the Butcher of Khan Younis, was killed after emerging from the network of underground tunnels where he had been hiding.
A unit of the IDF’s 828th Bislamach Brigade was patrolling Tal al-Sultan, an area of Rafah, on Wednesday morning when it encountered a group of three Hamas fighters on the street and confronted them in a shooting.
The terrorists were “on the run” moving from house to house, the IDF said, and they split up.
One of them, since identified as Sinwar, “ran alone toward one of the buildings.” He went up to the second floor and the troops responded by firing a tank shell in his direction.
IDF soldiers carry Sinwar’s body out of the destroyed building on a stretcher
Israeli soldiers surround a corpse that resembles Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
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.
Israel accuses Sinwar (pictured) of masterminding the unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel that sparked the war.
The unit, made up of infantry commanders in training and reservists, then began sweeping the area, according to Israeli media.
Two grenades were thrown at them, one of which exploded and the other did not explode. ynet information.
The troops decided it was too dangerous to continue and withdrew, instead sending a mini drone to track the fleeing fighter.
Dramatic images released by the IDF show the bloody Sinwar, his face hidden by a scarf, throws a stick in a last attempt to defend himself from the drone seconds before being killed..
Two 120mm tank shells hit the building, as did a Matador surface-to-surface missile, according to Israeli reports, with shrapnel cutting through the upper floors and killing Sinwar.
Unaware that they had eliminated Israel’s main target, the soldiers did not return to the site until Thursday morning, when soldiers from the 450th Infantry Battalion were sent to take a closer look.
As they inspected the dead, they noticed that one bore a striking resemblance to the Hamas leader.
Graphic images emerged of his corpse lying on rubble surrounded by Israeli soldiers, while close-ups showed a catastrophic head wound and multiple wounds.
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.
He was found with a gun, a bulletproof vest and 40,000 shekels (£8,250).
“Yahya Sinouar had a lot of cash and fake passports with him, he was ready to flee,” Israeli army spokesman Colonel Olivier Rafowicz told French media CNEWS this morning.
He claimed that the items Sinwar had with him, which allegedly also included a card from UNRWA, the UN aid for Palestinian refugees, “may show that he was ready to flee and leave Gaza and his men behind.”
Booby traps around the area forced the body to be left in place, but part of one of its fingers was removed and sent for analysis.
Confirmation of his death took several hours, multiple tests were performed, and his identity was finally confirmed with dental records and fingerprints.
Four hours after confirming that they were investigating whether the Hamas leader had been killed, the military issued a simple message on social media: “Eliminated: Yahya Sinwar.”
Footage shows Israeli troops carrying a body, believed to be Sinwar’s, on a stretcher out of the destroyed building.
Later on Thursday, his body was taken to a laboratory in the Tel Aviv commercial center in Israel.
Early results described Sinwar’s physical condition as “good despite spending a lot of time in tunnels,” public broadcaster Kan reported.
Hamas has not made any comment, but sources within the group have said that evidence they have seen suggests that Sinwar was indeed killed by Israeli troops.
“The dozens of operations carried out by the IDF and ISA over the past year, and in recent weeks in the area where he was eliminated, restricted Yahya Sinwar’s operational movement while he was pursued by forces and led to his elimination.” The Israeli military said in a statement.
Sinwar has been a prime target of Israeli forces since October 7, but Israel has 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 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 location where he was killed.
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, meaning they had his genetic information on file.
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has remained elusive during the year of war (pictured in 2022)
IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari confirmed the death of the Hamas leader in a televised statement last night.
‘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 more than 250 men, women and hostages to Gaza as hostages. , children and babies. .
‘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.”
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 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.
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’.
Sinwar was born in the Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza in 1962 and joined Hamas shortly after its founding in the 1980s.
He was dedicated to his radical Islamist ideology, which seeks to establish an Islamic state in historic Palestine and opposes the existence of Israel.
Sinwar became the new leader of the Iran-backed Palestinian group following the assassination of his former political chief Ismail Haniyeh (left) in July.
He became a protégé of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, founder of Hamas, as a young man, and was first arrested by Israel in 1982, while studying at the Islamic University in Gaza.
In prison, he earned a fearsome reputation as a ruthless executioner, murdering suspected Israeli collaborators and earning the nickname the Butcher of Khan Younis.
He learned Hebrew during his brutal 22-year sentence for plotting the kidnapping and murder of two Israeli and four Palestinian soldiers.
He emerged from prison as a street hero in Gaza and quickly rose to the top of Hamas’s ranks.
Hamas has not confirmed the death of its leader. He will have dealt a seismic blow to the organization, which was already weakened by the assassination of its top military commander in July.
Experts say the group may wait a moment before acknowledging his death, while his body remains in the hands of the Israeli army.
His assassination so soon after the death of his predecessor, Ismail Haniyeh, in July, now raises the question of who could succeed him.
