Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was shot dead in Rafah in southern Gaza, an Israeli army spokesman said late yesterday, confirming the death of the man who had been named as Ismail Haniyeh‘s successor after he was killed by Israel during an operation in Tehran in July.
According to international media reports, Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesman Doron Spielman confirmed that Israeli troops were shot at during an operation in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on 16 October and returned fire with a tank; it was while inspecting the building that they realised Sinwar might be among the dead.
The Hamas leader was found with three people, according to Spielman, who explained that one of them was the battalion commander of the Khan Younis brigade, who always accompanied him. In a video released by the Israeli army showing the Hamas leader’s last moments, a drone is seen entering a damaged building where a person – who the IDF says is Sinwar – is seated.
At one point Sinwar, who is wounded and covered in debris from the building, appears to notice the drone and tries to throw an object at it. His face is hidden in the video – which has been edited – and he appears to be in one of the few houses still standing in the Rafah area.
It was a drone that later discovered Sinwar’s body in the rubble of the building after being hit by an Israeli tank, information that later appeared to be corroborated by soldiers who went to the scene. However, it was not until the results of DNA tests – Israel has DNA samples from the time Sinwar was held in an Israeli prison – that his identity was confirmed.
‘The world is now a better place’, Israel says
The world is ‘now a better place’, said IDF commander-in-chief Herzi Halevi, who stressed that the troops acted ‘correctly, with professionalism and determination’. According to the Israeli army, Sinwar was attempting to escape into northern Gaza when he was killed on Wednesday, although it was only late yesterday that the news was confirmed.
Yahya Sinwar was considered one of the masterminds of the 7 October attacks and was one of Israel’s most wanted Hamas members, although until now he had managed to avoid detection, possibly hiding in tunnels in Gaza. His death is a major blow to Hamas and comes just three weeks after Israel assassinated the Palestinian Islamist group’s main ally in Lebanon, Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Hezbollah militia, during a bombing in Beirut.
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Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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