Israel says it has killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza attack

Israel claims that it has killed Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas and its most wanted figure, who is believed to have orchestrated the October 7, 2023, attacks. His death, officially confirmed by Foreign Minister Israel Katz and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Thursday evening, occurred during a tank attack on a building in Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) had located Hamas members.

After killing three Hamas operatives and recovering their bodies, Israeli troops initiated the process of confirming Sinwar’s identity, as stated by official IDF radio. This outlet also mentioned that DNA tests are being conducted using samples from the two decades Sinwar spent in Israeli prisons. The KAN television channel has also reported his death. Sinwar had taken over leadership of Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades, just a month and a half after Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran on July 31.

With the death of Sinwar, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has gained a significant advantage to bolster his contentious military operation in the Gaza Strip, where approximately a hundred hostages remain. Capturing the Hamas chief, whether dead or alive, is one of his top priorities. The Hostages Families Forum was quick to celebrate the reported death of the Palestinian leader. “We call on the Israeli government, world leaders, and mediating countries to leverage the military achievement into a diplomatic one by pursuing an immediate agreement for the release of all 101 hostages: the living for rehabilitation and the murdered for proper burial,” the group said in a statement.

Before the death was confirmed, the Israeli army and intelligence services released a statement indicating that they are investigating whether one of the three bodies found belongs to Sinwar. “During IDF operations in the Gaza Strip, three terrorists were eliminated. The IDF and Shin Bet are checking the possibility that one of the terrorists was Yahya Sinwar. At this stage, the identity of the terrorists cannot be confirmed,” the official statement said. “In the building where the terrorists were eliminated, there were no signs of the presence of hostages in the area. The forces that are operating in the area are continuing to operate with the required caution.”

The reference to the hostages is significant, as the families of the captives continue to argue that their loved ones’ release should take precedence over Netanyahu’s controversial military offensive. Throughout the prolonged conflict, an unspecified number of hostages have died in attacks by Israeli forces, with some casualties resulting from serious mistakes made by deployed soldiers. One speculation for the delay in eliminating the Hamas leader, despite extensive efforts, is that he might be protected by a group of captives, which would complicate potential bombing attempts. However, if the details of the attack in Rafah are confirmed, it appears this was not the case.

“No tunnel is deep enough, Sinwar”

“No tunnel is deep enough, Sinwar. Ask Nasrallah,” warned leaflets dropped over the Gaza Strip last week, cautioning the Hamas chief in Arabic that he would meet the same fate as Hezbollah’s top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed on September 28 during an airstrike on Beirut. In recent weeks, reports have emerged detailing how Yahya Sinwar attempted to evade surveillance and monitoring by the Israeli state. He steered clear of electronic devices and communicated through handwritten notes, which he sometimes sent via particularly trusted associates.

One of these letters — which could potentially have served as a basis for negotiations with Israel regarding a possible ceasefire — even reached Nasrallah shortly before his death, as Hezbollah revealed in a social media post last month. In this note, the Palestinian leader expressed his gratitude for the support received during the conflict as part of the axis aligned under Tehran’s leadership. A similar note appeared on the profiles of the Houthi guerrilla group in Yemen after the Hamas leader congratulated them for successfully launching one of their missiles into Israeli territory.

In just over two months, Israel has succeeded in eliminating the top leadership of Hamas and Hezbollah for the second time. On July 31, Israel assassinated Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of the Palestinian movement, in Tehran while he was attending the inauguration of Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian. Subsequently, the Israeli army targeted and killed the head of the Shiite party-militia in an airstrike on the Dahieh neighborhood, the group’s stronghold in Beirut. Shortly thereafter, in another airstrike in the same suburb, Hashem Safieddine — who was likely poised to become Haniyeh’s successor — was also killed.

In addition to these key targets on Israel’s list of most wanted enemies, other senior leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas have also been killed during the past year. One of the most notable assassinations was that of Mohamed Deif, head of Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedeen al-Qassam Brigades, on July 13 in southern Gaza. Israel did not confirm his death until August 1, but Hamas continues to assert that he is still alive. Deif was regarded as a crucial figure, alongside Sinwar, in orchestrating the attacks of October 7.

Sinwar has consistently relied on the extensive network of tunnels constructed over decades by Hamas, which are also used to hold hostages. He has been actively sought in Khan Yunis, his hometown in the southern part of Gaza, where more than 42,000 people have died over the past year due to Israeli attacks. However, reports suggest he may have met his end in Rafah, a town at the southern tip of the Gaza Strip near the Gaza border with Egypt, which has been occupied by Israeli troops since last May. Sinwar is alleged to be the primary architect behind the October 7, 2023, massacre in Israel, which resulted in the deaths of approximately 1,200 individuals and the abduction of another 250, an event that sparked the ongoing conflict.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition