The Israeli authorities have demanded the killing of Yahya Sinwar, the main leader of the Palestinian independence armed organization Hamas. He was killed in an attack by Israeli forces in Rafah, southern Gaza, on Wednesday, the occupying country’s military said yesterday.
The Israeli military said it confirmed the killing of Yahya Sinwar after completing the process of identifying the body. The country’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, also said Sinwar was killed. Hamas has not commented on Israel’s claim.
Israeli media Channel-12 reported that Israeli soldiers saw some Hamas fighters enter a building in Rafah on Wednesday. After that an attack was ordered there. After the attack, troops went there and found a total of three bodies, including a soldier who looked like Sinwar. After that, it was confirmed yesterday that the body belonged to Sinwar.
Two Hamas sources confirmed Sinwar’s death to Saudi media outlet Ashrak al-Aswat. Leaders inside and outside Gaza have been informed of Sinwar’s death, the sources said. They also said that everyone lost contact with Sinwar’s security guards a few days ago.
Three pictures of Sinwar’s dead body went viral on social media. It shows that he is lying under the rubble of a building. He has a deep wound on his head. Sinwar was wearing a safety vest and a watch at the time. Sinwar entered Rafa’s house. Israeli soldiers took his body out of the rubble of the house.
The BBC, which examined the images, said that the body’s eyebrows, a scar under the eye and teeth were identical to Sinwar’s earlier photos. Meaning, it was Sinwar’s body. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu officially announced Sinwar’s death at a press conference.
Sinwar was born in 1962 in Khan Yunis refugee camp in Ghazar. He spent 22 years in an Israeli prison. Sinwa was arrested in 1988 for taking two Israeli soldiers hostage and killing them. He was released in 2011 through a prisoner exchange deal. Sinwar mastered the Hebrew language while imprisoned in an Israeli prison.
In 2017, he became the head of the Gaza branch of Hamas. He was elected head of the organization when Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Iran last July. Sinwar was called as the ‘mastermind’ of the terrible attack that Hamas carried out on October 7 last year in occupied Israel.
