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Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader who masterminded the murderous October 7th attacks, has been killed in Gaza, according to the Israeli government. The death of Sinwar, 61, the last surviving member of the terrorist organisation’s senior leadership, was confirmed by Israel’s foreign minister.
Pictures circulated on social media of a man resembling Sinwar lying dead in rubble, reportedly following a gun battle with IDF troops. “During IDF operations in the Gaza Strip, three terrorists were eliminated. The IDF and ISA are checking the possibility that one of the terrorists was Yahya Sinwar,” a military spokesman said. Israeli media reported that troops opened fire on a group of terrorists on the ground floor of a building, unaware of Sinwar’s potential presence. After entering the building, they reportedly noted that one of the dead “looked very much like” Sinwar.
Former US General David Petraeus described Sinwar’s death as “hugely significant”. He added: “It’s 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 but also hugely operational so this is a major achievement,” he said in an interview with the BBC.
Gen Petraeus added that Hamas had been “badly degraded and now decapitated” but warned that the terrorist group still contains “thousands of extremists and recruiting still goes on”.
Widely seen as the chief strategist behind the Oct 7 massacre, Sinwar has for months escaped Israeli efforts to find and kill him, even as many of his top allies were eliminated.
An Israeli air strike in September killed Hamas’ leader in Lebanon, Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin, who was later revealed to have been employed by UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. Sinwar was appointed the political leader of Hamas after Ismail Haniyeh, the terror group’s previous leader, was killed in an alleged Israeli attack in Tehran in July. Israel’s onslaught against its enemies over the last three months has extended to Hezbollah, including the killing of Hassan Nasrallah, its chief since 1992.
As many as 3,000 Hezbollah officers and members were thought to have been killed or injured last month after Israel exploded pagers carried by the Iran-backed group’s fighters. The devices had been booby-trapped by Israeli intelligence before they were delivered to Hezbollah. Israel has already assassinated Mohammed Deif, head of the al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, who was killed in an airstrike on Gaza, and Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas’s political wing, who was blown up attending the inauguration of the Iranian president in Tehran.
Israel now will hope that progress could be made on the release of more than 100 hostages still being held in Gaza. The Biden administration is now expected to try to get renewed momentum behind its ceasefire for hostages deal.
