Yahya Sinwar
Agency report
IDF confirms terror chief was shot dead in Rafah firefight Wednesday; troops spotted body Thursday and Sinwar’s identity was formally confirmed after tests; no hostages at location
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Israel on Thursday night announced that IDF troops had killed Hamas terror chief Yahya Sinwar in Gaza.
Sinwar, architect of the October 7 Hamas invasion and slaughter in southern Israel, was killed in a firefight in Rafah, in southern Gaza, on Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet security agency said.
He was not being directly targeted, and troops only realized that one of the three terrorists killed in the incident was apparently Sinwar when they inspected the scene on Thursday morning.
Confirmation that the body was indeed Sinwar was finalized on the basis of DNA and other testing. Part of Sinwar’s finger was removed for expedited testing as the location was booby-trapped. His body was extracted and brought to Israel later Thursday.
In a joint statement, the IDF and Shin Bet said Israel’s military activities gradually constricted Sinwar’s area of operations, ultimately leading to his death.
The statement said that over the past few weeks, the 162nd Division and Gaza Division operated in Gaza in areas where intelligence indicated senior Hamas officials were hiding. A force from the 828th Bislamach Brigade killed Sinwar and the other two terrorists, it said.
After the three terrorists were spotted, fired at and injured, two headed into one building and the third, who turned out to be Sinwar, went into another, the military said. The other two terrorists were apparently bodyguards of Sinwar’s and had been moving in front of him, clearing his way.
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IDF tanks and other forces opened fire on both buildings.
Sinwar then went up to the second floor. A tank fired another shell at the building, and an infantry platoon moved up to search. Sinwar threw two grenades, one of which exploded. The soldiers withdrew, and a drone flew in to search the room. It found a man with his arm injured and his face covered — Sinwar — who threw a wooden stick at the drone. Another tank shell was fired at the man, killing him.
On Thursday morning, troops searching the building looked at the face of the slain terrorist whom the drone had spotted, and noticed that he resembled Sinwar. The Shin Bet took DNA and part of his finger to verify his identity. No hostages were with Sinwar at the time.
IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari confirmed in a Thursday night press conference that the military “identified him as a terrorist in a building” and did not know it was Sinwar. “We fired on the building and went in to search. We found him with a flak jacket and a gun and NIS 40,000.”
Sinwar had apparently been moving around in the tunnels in the area for some time, Hagari said. He was probably attempting “to escape to the north, to safer areas” as the IDF closed in.
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“He was fleeing from house to house, we identified him as a terrorist, we closed in professionally and eliminated him.”
Hagari said that Israel was actively searching for Muhammad Sinwar, brother of the slain Hamas leader, and all Hamas military commanders.
Source; Times of Israel
