Israel ‘probing whether it has killed Hamas leader in Gaza airstrike’

Unconfirmed reports have claimed that Hamas’ leader Yahya Sinwar has been killed in an Israeli airstrike. The claims, first reported by Israeli broadcaster Kan, suggest the terror group’s leader was killed by an IDF airstrike in Gaza, though details about exactly where and when he may have been killed are scant. 

Israeli journalist Ben Caspit quoted sources as saying: ‘There have also been times in the past when he disappeared and we thought he was dead, but then he reappeared.’ Israeli media has reported that the intelligence community is split on whether he is in fact dead.

Israeli journalist Barak Ravid was quick to refute the claims, writing on X that ‘Israel does not have any intelligence information indicating that Haya Sinwar is dead.’ He quoted a senior official as saying: ‘These are hopes and guesses that are based only on the fact that Sinwar has been cut off from contact for several weeks.’

The Jerusalem Post also reported that no sources referred to any specific assassination operations run by the IDF to kill the Hamas leader, adding that a ‘top source poured cold water on the notion.’ The newspaper said that the IDF said it could neither confirm nor deny the reports, while the Walla news site noted that intelligence agency Shin Bet rejected the report and believes that Sinwar is alive.

Local media reported that the claims were based on the idea that Sinwar has been out of touch with Hamas representatives present at ceasefire negotiations for longer than usual. This is not the first time Sinwar is believed to have been killed during Israel’s war in Gaza.

In December, Sinwar was reported to have been killed, wounded, or fled to Sinai in Egypt. It later emerged that he had been out of touch with his subordinates as part of his hiding tactics.

This week, a letter written in Sinwar’s name was sent to the Houthis in Yemen, in which he praised the terror group for attacking Israel. ‘The resistance is in good shape. We will break the enemy’s political willpower the same way we broke his military willpower,’ Sinwar reportedly wrote.

He is said to have added: ‘We have prepared ourselves for a long war of attrition that will break the enemy’s political willpower, just as the Bul al-Aqsa attack [October 7 attack] broke his military willpower.’ It comes as the U.S. admitted that little progress is being made in the ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas.

National security spokesman John Kirby admitted that diplomatic teams haven’t made ‘any progress here in the last week to two weeks. Not for lack of trying.’ He says the leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, doesn’t appear to be ‘negotiating in good faith,’ citing the recent killing of six Israeli hostages in tunnels under Gaza. ‘But it doesn’t mean that we’re not trying.’

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