 "Hamas leader Yayha Sinwar has been confirmed dead by Israel after an operation in Gaza. He was wanted by the Jewish nation for the October 7, 2023 attacks. File image/AP")
“The one who carried out the worst massacre in the history of our people since the Holocaust, the mass murderer who murdered thousands of Israelis, and abducted hundreds of our people, was eliminated today by our heroic soldiers.
“Today, as we promised we would, we settled accounts with him. Today, evil suffered a heavy blow, but our mission is not yet completed.”
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said these words as he announced the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who was the mastermind of the dastardly October 7, 2023 attacks . With this killing, Israel has taken out its Enemy Number 1 — who they were hunting for more than a year.
Earlier, the Israeli military in a statement said, “After a year-long pursuit, yesterday (Wednesday), October 16, 2024, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers from the Southern Command eliminated Yahya Sinwar , the leader of the Hamas terrorist organisation, in an operation in the southern Gaza Strip.”
“IDF soldiers of the 828th Brigade (Bislach) operating in the area identified and eliminated three terrorists. After completing the process of identifying the body, it can be confirmed that Yahya Sinwar was eliminated,” it added.
Details of how Sinwar, also known as the ‘butcher of Khan Younis’, was finally killed are still emerging, but here’s what we know so far.
A routine gunfight
On Wednesday, a member of the 450th Battalion of the Bislamach Brigade of the IDF noticed a suspicious figure going in and out of a building in Rafah’s Tel Sultan neighbourhood. He informed his battalion commander, who ordered forces to open fire on the building.
According to the Times of Israel, following the firing, an Israeli drone spotted three figures exiting out of the building, stealthily. Drone visuals showed two of the figures moving in front, clearing the way for the third. This led the Israeli troops to once again open fire on the three terrorists, which led them to separate — two rushing into a building, while the third going into a separate structure.
Troops saw the lone man, who later turned out to be Sinwar, go up to the second floor of the structure from where he lobbed two grenades. This led the soldiers to withdraw, following which they sent a drone into the room. It found a man whose arm was hurt and whose face was covered.
However, a soldier, who was part of the operations, told a Hebrew media outlet that the IDF struck the building that Sinwar was in with a missile and then sent a drone in to confirm that he had been killed. The soldier added that at the time of the incident no one knew that the man they had killed was Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
Confirming it is Sinwar
After the gunfight and the attack, troops entered the building to ascertain whom they had killed. On entering the ruins of the building, they found a middle-aged man, wearing a military-style vest and lying half-submerged beneath debris with the front of his head smashed in.
It was then that the troops realised that this dead man bore an uncanny resemblance to the Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. They prised open his lips with a piece of wood and saw that the worn and chipped teeth matched photos of the Hamas leader’s mouth.
Quickly, these images went viral online, with most stating that it was Sinwar. However, Israeli officials said that “at this time, the identity of the three men killed could not be confirmed”.
Israeli authorities then carried out DNA and other tests to ascertain the identity of the men killed and by Thursday Israel announced that Sinwar was confirmed “eliminated”.
As news of the killing spread, Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said the country would “reach every terrorist and eliminate them”. Quoting the biblical book of Leviticus, he added: “You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall before you by the sword.”
Visuals from Tel Aviv also showed the public cheering and celebrating the news of Sinwar’s death, with one man saying, “Well done IDF. No [terrorists] will remain. Whoever harms Israeli citizens, that’ll be his end.”
Hunting Sinwar for a year
Wednesday’s operation, which killed Sinwar, was unplanned and not a result of intelligence gathering. It marks the end of a year-long hunt for the Hamas leader.
Since last October when Hamas infiltrated Israel and killed over 1,200 people, Sinwar has been on the Jewish nation’s hit list. However, Sinwar remained elusive , dodging IDF troops and drone detection. Moreover, it was believed that Sinwar surrounded himself with Israeli hostages to lessen the likelihood of being killed.
Until his death on Wednesday, Sinwar has been away from prying eyes with the only image of him released in the past year showing grainy footage of him walking through one of the many Hamas tunnels in October. However, this footage also came to light much later.
As months dragged on, Israel’s intelligence agencies and the IDF continued their hunt for Sinwar, coming close on a few occasions.
Last December, Netanyahu had announced that Israeli forces had encircled Sinwar’s Gaza house. “I said that our forces could reach anywhere in the Gaza Strip. Today they are encircling Sinwar’s house. His house may not be his fortress and he can escape but it’s only a matter of time before we get him,” Netanyahu said in a recorded video statement.
Then, this August, the IDF announced that it was “minutes away” from capturing Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in a Gaza tunnel. Speaking to Channel 12, Brigadier General Dan Goldfus said, “We were close. We were in his compound. We got to an underground compound. It was ‘hot.’”
And before Wednesday’s operation, the IDF said it had tracked Sinwar’s presence in the area and was slowly moving in to get him.
With Sinwar’s death, Israel achieved its major goal in this war, but this does not end the operation. Only time will tell what comes next.
With inputs from agencies