Israel has killed the leader of Hamas and mastermind of the October 7 massacre Yahyan Sinwar in a Gaza shoot-out.
Israel Defence Forces (IDF) troops fired upon a group of Hamas terrorists in a clash in the southern city of Rafah on Thursday.
Photographs from the scene showed the corpse of Sinwar, Israel’s most wanted man, with a bloody hole in his skull.
The assassination marks the most significant killing of the year-long war and a significant victory for Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, who had long described him as a “dead man walking”.
Israel Katz, Israel’s foreign minister, announced the killing on Thursday afternoon in a statement to the media.
“The mass murderer Yahya Sinwar, responsible for the massacre and atrocities of October 7th, was eliminated today by IDF soldiers,” he said.
“This is a great military and moral achievement for Israel and a victory for the entire free world against the evil axis of extreme Islam led by Iran,” he added.
Mr Katz said that Sinwar’s killing created an opportunity for the immediate release of Israeli hostages and that it could bring about a Gaza “without Hamas and without Iranian control”.
The soldiers who killed Sinwar were not hunting him and came upon him in a chance encounter, Israeli media reported.
As well as Sinwar, Israel has now killed Hamas’ political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, and dozens of other top commanders in the two terror groups in recent weeks.
ZeroByter on October 17th, 2024 at 14:20 UTC »
Small detail, not an airstrike. Reports are coming out on national Israeli television that a standard combat unit was operating in the area, spotted the terrorists entering a structure. A tank fired on the structure which was followed by more firepower and then soldiers moving in, at which point his (probable) body was discovered and all this started.
OwlMan_001 on October 17th, 2024 at 13:54 UTC »
Sinwar is dead. DNA tests will take a few hours, but the images and all other indications seem clear.
The big question is - who replaces him?
Exita on October 17th, 2024 at 13:39 UTC »
Pictures comparing his teeth look very convincing. Highly likely that it’s him.
Edit. Confirmed - it is him.