Israel says its forces have killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza.

The Israeli military said on Thursday that Sinwar was killed on Wednesday in southern Gaza.

“After completing the process of identifying the body, it can be confirmed that Yahya Sinwar was eliminated,” the Israeli military said.

“The dozens of operations carried out by the [Israeli military] and ISA [Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic security service,] 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.”

Hamas has not commented on the Israeli claims. Israel has been conducting a war on Gaza since October last year, killing more than 42,000 Palestinians, the vast majority of them civilians. That followed Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel, in which 1,139 people were killed.

The Israeli army and police carried out DNA checks to confirm Sinwar’s identity after it said its forces in Gaza had killed three people.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to take the plaudits for Sinwar’s killing but added that it did not mean the war on Gaza was over.

“Today we have settled the score. Today evil has been dealt a blow, but our task has still not been completed,” Netanyahu said in a recorded video statement. “To the dear hostage families, I say: This is an important moment in the war. We will continue full force until all your loved ones, our loved ones, are home.”

Nearly 250 people were taken captive from Israel during the October 7, 2023, attacks. About half have been released, and about 70 are believed to still be held in Gaza.

Assassinations

Sinwar, 62, was one of the masterminds behind the October 7 attacks on Israel and has been a prime target for Israel since then.

Chosen as Hamas’s leader in Gaza in 2017, he had previously been held in an Israeli prison for 22 years before being released as part of a prisoner swap in 2011.

Disciplined and determined, he was focused on fighting Israel.

Hind Hassan, a journalist who was one of the last people to interview Sinwar in 2021, said he told her Palestinians were expected to be “perfect victims, and that’s something that they cannot be”.

His claimed death comes months after the July assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s political leader, in Tehran. Israel is believed to have been behind the killing.

Sinwar had been chosen as Hamas’s overall leader after Haniyeh’s killing.

Israel also claimed to have killed Hamas’s military chief, Mohammed Deif, in August although that has not been confirmed by the Palestinian group.

Outside Gaza, an Israeli attack in Beirut on September 27 killed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Lebanese group Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas that has been locked in a conflict with Israel since October 8, 2023, saying its attacks were being conducted in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

The war on Gaza has sparked a regional conflict, including groups such as the Houthis in Yemen, and even Iran, which conducted an unprecedented direct missile attack on Israel on October 1 in retaliation for the killings of Nasrallah and Haniyeh.

An Israeli attack on Iran is expected and could potentially drag in the United States, which has sent a missile defence system and soldiers to Israel.

Families of captives waiting

People in Israel have celebrated the claims that Sinwar is dead, and family members of captives said they hoped a deal to secure the release of their relatives could now be secured.

“This is a critical, time-sensitive development as it relates to the hostages. Their lives are in great danger now more than ever,” said Orna Neutra, whose son Omer is being held in Gaza. “We’re calling on the Israeli government and the US administration to act swiftly and do whatever is needed to reach a deal with the captors.”

Israel has refused to agree a captive release deal that would also see a ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners despite attempts by several countries to secure an agreement and Hamas’s stated receptiveness.

Instead, Netanyahu has called for a total victory over Hamas and has promised not to end the war until that happens.

In Gaza, many don’t believe that Sinwar’s killing will bring forward an end to the war.

“Sinwar’s killing will not stop the war because it is a war on the Palestinian cause and Palestinian existence,” said Salah Musleh, living in central Gaza. “Israel assassinated Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh, [deputy chairman of the political bureau] Saleh al-Arouri, and today Sinwar, but the war has not stopped to this day. We are proud of this end to Sinwar.”

BDST: 0957 HRS, OCT 18, 2024
MSK