(FILES) Yahya al-Sinwar (center), Gaza Strip chief of the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement, waves to supporters as he arrives to attend a rally marking Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day, a commemoration in support of the Palestinian people celebrated annually on the last Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, in Gaza City, on April 14, 2023. | Photo by MOHAMMED ABED / AFP
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military on Thursday told how Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed in a firefight after being tracked “going from home to home” desperately seeking to avoid detection in southern Gaza.
Israel has hailed the death of the 61-year-old Sinwar as one of the most important blows it has dealt Hamas since the Gaza war started with the group’s October 7, 2023 attacks.
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The Israeli military “confirms that after a year-long pursuit, yesterday (Wednesday), October 16, 2024, IDF (military) soldiers from the Southern Command eliminated Yahya Sinwar, the leader of the Hamas terrorist organisation, in an operation in the southern Gaza Strip,” it said in a statement.
“The dozens of operations carried out by the IDF and the ISA (Shin Bet internal security agency) over the last year, and in recent weeks in the area where he was eliminated, restricted Yahya Sinwar’s operational movement as he was pursued by the forces and led to his elimination,” it added.
“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.”
In a later statement, military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Sinwar was killed after being spotted with two other fighters in the territory’s Rafah district.
“The forces idenfitied three terrorists who were going from home to home on the run,” Hagari told a briefing.
Troops engaged the group, forcing Sinwar to flee as the group dispersed after being shot.
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“Sinwar ran away alone into one of the buildings and our forces scanned the area with a drone – which you can see in this film — Yahya Sinwar injured his hand in the shooting, who can be seen here covered with his face, he threw a branch at the drone,” said Hagari.
No hostages with Sinwar
Drone footage released by the military showed Sinwar alone in a blown-up apartment, with one hand severly injured and head covered in a traditional scarf, throwing a stick at the approaching drone during his final moments.
“We identified him as a terrorist inside a building and we shot into the building and we entered to scan the area. We found him with a gun and 40 thousand shekels. He was on the run and our forces eliminated him,” said Hagari.
“Near the terrorists we eliminated were no hostages and our forces are now screening the area,” he added.
Israel accuses Sinwar of being the mastermind of the October 7 attacks along with Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif.
The Israeli military said Deif was killed in a strike earlier this year though the Palestinian group has not confirmed it.
Sinwar in August replaced Hamas’s former chief Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Iran on July 31. Israel has not commented on Haniyeh’s death.
The Hamas attack last year resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people on Israeli soil, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures that include hostages killed in captivity.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive in Gaza has killed 42,438 people, a majority of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN acknowledges the figures to be reliable.