Israel says Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar killed in Gaza

Israeli forces in Gaza killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, a chief architect of last year’s attack on Israel that sparked the war, the military said Thursday. Troops appeared to have run across him unknowingly in a battle, only to discover afterwards that a body in the rubble was Israel’s most-wanted man.

Israeli leaders celebrated his killing as a settling of scores just over a year after Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 250 others in an attack that stunned the country.

“Hamas will no longer rule Gaza. This is the start of the day after Hamas," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

Sinwar's death is a crippling blow to Hamas, but the group has proven resilient to losses of past leaders. There was no immediate confirmation from Hamas of Sinwar’s death.

Netanyahu has said Israel will keep fighting until all the hostages are free, and that it will keep control over Gaza long enough to ensure Hamas does not rearm — an effective occupation that raises the possibility of months or even years of continued fighting.

Sinwar has been Hamas’ leader inside the Gaza Strip for years. He was elevated to the group's top leadership position in July after his predecessor, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in an apparent Israeli strike in the Iranian capital, Tehran.

Found by chance

In the past months, Israel has assassinated a string of senior figures from Hamas and Hezbollah with airstrikes. Israel has claimed to have killed the head of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, but the group has said he survived.

But in Sinwar's case, troops found him by chance.

Israel military spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said that Israeli forces identified three Hamas militants running from building to building in Gaza's southernmost city, Rafah. The troops attempted to shoot them before they ran inside a building.

The Israeli military released drone video showing what it said were Sinwar’s last moments: In a room wrecked by shelling, a man sat in a chair, his face covered with a cloth, possibly to hide his identity. The video showed the man, with one wounded hand, throwing a stick at the drone.

The military then fired an additional shell at the building, causing it to collapse and killing Sinwar, Hagari said. He said Sinwar was found with a bulletproof vest, grenades, and 40,000 shekels ($10,707).

Some of Sinwar’s DNA had previously been found in tunnels near where troops found the bodies of six hostages at the end of August, Hagari said. The military believes weeks of searches in the area had pushed Sinwar to come out of hiding, he said.

Photos circulating online showed the body of a man resembling Sinwar with a gaping head wound, dressed in a military-style vest, half buried in the rubble of a destroyed building. The security official confirmed the photos were taken by Israeli security officials at the scene. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.

The military said three militants were killed in the operation. Police said one of them was confirmed as Sinwar by dental records, fingerprints and DNA tests. Sinwar was imprisoned by Israel from the late 1980s until 2011, and during that time he underwent treatment for brain cancer — leaving Israeli authorities with extensive medical records.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant addressed Hamas fighters, saying it “is time to go out, release the hostages, raise your hands, surrender.”

'Symbol of resistance'

In the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah, one Palestinian woman displaced from her home in the north said she hoped Sinwar's death would bring an end to Israel's campaign. “What more goals do they have than that? Enough. We want to go back,” said the woman, Umm Mohammed.

Some praised Sinwar as a symbol of resistance against Israel's decades-long occupation of the Palestinians in the West Bank. Ahmed Hamdouna, who also fled his home in northern Gaza, said Hamas would be able to replace him. "After the leader, a thousand leaders will come. After the man, a thousand men will come,” he said.