On Friday, October 18, the Israeli Defense Forces released a new video showing a tank firing at a building where Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was hiding.
The Israeli military announced that Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind behind the Hamas attack on Israeli operations on October 7, 2023, was killed by Israeli forces on Thursday, October 17.
Sinwar, referred to by Israel as the “Butcher of Khan Younis,” orchestrated an attack that resulted in the deaths of 1,200 Israelis and approximately 250 people being taken hostage. Furthermore, he was known to use violence and torture against captured individuals.
Israeli authorities vowed to locate this terrorist leader. In a joint statement on Thursday, the Israeli Defense Forces and Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence agency stated that Sinwar had been hiding behind Gaza civilians for the past year, concealing himself in Hamas’ surface and underground tunnels in the Gaza Strip.
According to The New York Times, since August, Israeli intelligence has found increasing evidence suggesting that Sinwar or other high-ranking Hamas leaders may be hiding in the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood of Rafah.
Reports revealed that individuals in the area often wore masks while moving around, sometimes accompanied by guards, indicating they could be senior Hamas officials or hostages. In September, Sinwar’s DNA was found in urine collected from a tunnel by Israeli forces.
Sinwar was eventually discovered and killed by Israeli soldiers on patrol in Rafah. His identity was confirmed the following day.
In the past weeks, Israeli forces have intensified searches in the region, as intelligence indicated that senior Hamas officials might be hiding alongside Israeli hostages there.
Israeli officials stated that Sinwar’s burial site was only a few hundred meters from the tunnels where he had been hiding earlier in the summer, where six slain Israeli hostages were discovered at the end of August.
Since the attack on October 7, 2023, Sinwar had been elusive, resembling a ghost. Over the past year, sightings of him have been rare, with belief that he spent most of his time underground.
Throughout the year-long conflict, Sinwar commanded Hamas forces against Israel, playing a role in ceasefire negotiations and the release of Israeli hostages.
On January 31, 2024, an Israeli commando unit raided a meticulously designed tunnel network in Khan Younis based on intelligence suggesting Sinwar was hiding there. However, he had left just days before.
Inside the tunnel, piles of Israeli currency and documents belonging to Sinwar were found, detailing the planning of the October 7 attack by Hamas leaders over the years.
In recent weeks, Israel has stepped up ambushes and clearance efforts around numerous tunnels in Rafah, aiming to flush out Hamas fighters to the surface.
On Wednesday, October 16, Israeli troops engaged in a firefight with three Hamas soldiers, resulting in one Israeli soldier sustaining severe injuries. Two men fled into one building, while the third escaped into a neighboring structure.
After the two armed individuals in the same building were neutralized, attention turned to the man hiding in the other building, with a drone deployed to inspect the interior.
The drone captured footage of an injured man sitting on a couch inside a damaged house, his face obscured by a headdress. The man threw a stick at the drone but missed. Subsequently, an Israeli official mentioned that a sniper shot the man in the head, followed by a tank firing at the building.
Since it was late in the evening, the troops decided to return to the two buildings on Thursday morning to minimize the threat of bombs often set by Hamas inside buildings they evacuate.
Israeli officials discovered automatic weapons, Israeli currency, mints, forged passports, and more at the scene based on provided images.
The deceased man had a large hole in his forehead, a wound on his knee, and a wire tied around his severely injured right arm for first aid. Due to the striking resemblance to Sinwar, an Israeli soldier severed one of the man’s fingers for DNA testing and took photographs of his teeth to match against dental records from Sinwar’s time in an Israeli prison.
Based on fingerprint and dental records, Israeli officials confirmed the deceased was indeed Sinwar. Thursday evening saw his body transported to the Israel National Forensic Institute in Tel Aviv, where Dr. Chen Kugel was in charge of the autopsy.
The killing of Sinwar represents a significant military achievement for Israel in this conflict, raising hopes of a potential resolution and the release of Israeli hostages.
Hamas confirmed Sinwar’s death on Friday but vowed to continue the fight. Israeli Prime Minister also stated that the Gaza conflict is not over, affirming Israel’s commitment to fight until all hostages are freed.