Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has been killed, Israel confirms

Yahya Sinwar has been eliminated in Gaza, Israel’s foreign minister confirmed today after extensive testing of teeth and DNA. ‘Mass murderer Yahya Sinwar, who was responsible for the massacre and atrocities of October 7, was killed today by IDF soldiers,’ Katz said in a statement. He said Sinwar’s death was ‘a great military and moral achievement for Israel’, adding that his death opens the possibility for the ‘immediate release of the hostages’ and change ‘that will lead to a new reality in Gaza – without Hamas and without Iranian control’. Israel has been investigating whether Sinwar was killed in a ground operation by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) which left three terrorists dead.

Troops reported identifying a group of terrorists in a building at an undisclosed location in Gaza. After an exchange of fire, a tank shell was said to have hit the structure and collapsed it. Graphic images then circulated online purporting to show the body of the Hamas leader with Israeli soldiers surrounding it. David H. Petraeus, former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, said the killing of Yahya Sinwar was ‘bigger’ than the killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in 2011. Speaking to the PM program on Radio 4 he said: ‘It is hard to overstate how important this is’.

‘This is bigger than Osama Bin Laden, who was massively symbolic but not that operational… ‘This is both hugely symbolic, he was after all the complete leader of Hamas… but also hugely operational.’ Sinwar has been a prime target for Israeli forces since October 7, but Israel has allegedly been hesitant to make an assassination attempt amid reports that he was surrounded by Israeli hostages and was carrying a bag packed with explosives. It is believed that Sinwar has been moving from place to place without the hostages since the end of August, when six abductees – Carmel Gat, Hirsch Goldberg-Poulin, Alex Lubnov, Almog Sarosi, Uri Danino and the late Aden Yerushalmi – were found dead in a tunnel, according to a new report by N12 .

Israeli troops reported no sign of hostages at the location where he was killed today. Israel reported earlier it was carrying out dental and DNA testing to ascertain whether Sinwar was among the victims of the strike. ‘As of now, one of the multiple necessary assessments has been completed for absolute confirmation. ‘Dental images have been submitted to the police forensics lab, and DNA testing is currently in progress,’ the Israeli police and military said in a joint statement.

US President Joe Biden was also briefed by senior aides on Sinwar’s possible death earlier today, a White House official has said. When asked whether the UK government would want to see action in Gaza scaled down if he is confirmed dead, a Number 10 spokeswoman said: ‘We stand by their right to self-defense and to prevent such a terror attack from ever happening again. ‘As you know, Hamas is a proscribed terrorist organzation.’ She added that the government’s ‘priorities’ continue to be securing a ceasefire, getting more aid into Gaza and ensuring the release of Israeli hostages.

British defense secretary John Healey said ahead of the announcement of Sinwar’s death: ‘I for one, will not mourn the death of a terror leader like Sinwar – someone who was responsible for the terror attack on October 7.’ Sinwar is widely considered to be the chief architect the October 7 attacks on Israel, which saw 1,200 people killed and 250 taken hostage by Hamas and other terror groups, according to Israeli tallies. Following the massacre, IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht vowed that Israeli troops would not rest until he was found and killed, and declared him a ‘dead man walking’. Sinwar has remained elusive throughout the year-long war in Gaza, hiding in the Hamas tunnel network beneath the Strip. The only apparent glimpse of him came in a video filmed just a couple of days after the bloody conflict erupted.

The black and white images, uncovered by IDF troops during a raid earlier this year, show a man believed to be Sinwar making his way through a tunnel along with his wife and three children, while carrying a large bag. ‘In that bag is about 25kg of dynamite. Around him are at least 20 hostages,’ according to Kobi Michael, Sinwar’s former Shin Bet interrogator. ‘A few times we have had the chance to kill him, but if we do, he will kill all the hostages around him.’

Sinwar became the Iran-backed Palestinian group’s new leader after the killing of its former political chief Ismail Haniyeh in July. Hamas and Iran blame Israel for Haniyeh’s killing in an attack in Tehran, but Israel has not commented on it. Israel’s announcement on Sinwar comes weeks after it assassinated Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in a massive strike in Lebanon, where its military has escalated a war since late September.

A slew of other Iran-backed militant commanders have also been killed in recent months. Israel said earlier this year that it had killed Mohammed Deif, Hamas’s military chief, in a strike, though the Palestinian group has not confirmed it. Deif stood accused of working with Sinwar to plan the October 7 attack. With Hamas massively weakened more than a year into the Gaza war, Sinwar’s death, if confirmed, would deal a seismic blow to the organization.

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