The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Thursday announced that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed in southern Gaza during an operation targeting senior members of the Palestinian militant group.
In a significant development amid escalating Middle East crisis, Israel on Thursday night confirmed the killing of Yahya Sinwar, the military leader of Hamas in Gaza. This high-profile elimination comes after a year-long pursuit of Sinwar, who was identified as the mastermind behind the October 7 attacks on Israel, a devastating event that resulted in approximately 1,200 Israeli deaths and the abduction of over 250 individuals.
IDF and Shin Bet confirm the elimination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. pic.twitter.com/nIXn3OhXud
— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom)Eliminated: Yahya Sinwar.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF)The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that Sinwar was killed in southern Gaza during an operation targeting senior Hamas members. The military's statement detailed that Sinwar had been "eliminated" following intelligence indicating the suspected locations of Hamas leaders. The operation involved troops from the 828th Brigade, who engaged in combat in Tel Sultan, a neighbourhood of Gaza’s southernmost town, Rafah.
According to the IDF, Sinwar had been hiding among the civilian population, utilizing Hamas tunnels to evade capture. This intricate network of underground passages has been a crucial element of Hamas's strategy, allowing its leaders to escape detection while planning attacks against Israel.
In a series of posts on X, the IDF said, "The IDF spokesman and the Shin Bet spokeswomen confirm that at the end of a hunt that was held for about a year, last night, October 16, 2024, IDF forces from the Southern Command killed Yahya Sinwar, the leader of the Hamas terrorist organization active in the southern Gaza Strip."
"Sinwar planned and executed the murderous attack on October 7, and promoted his murderous ideology during and before the war, and is responsible for the murder and kidnapping of many Israelis. Sinwar was eliminated after a year in which he hid in the heart of the civilian population in Gaza, and in hiding in the underground in the Hamas tunnels," the Israeli forces further said.
"Dozens of actions carried out by the IDF and the Shin Bet in the last year, and in the last few weeks in the area where he was killed, reduced the area of activity of Yahya Sinwar who was pursued by the forces, and led to his death," the IDF noted.
It further said, "In recent weeks, IDF and Shin Bet forces under the leadership of the Southern Command, including Division 162 and the Gaza Division, have been operating in the south of the Gaza Strip, based on intelligence from the Shin Bet and Amman, which indicated suspicious areas where senior Hamas officials are suspected of being present."
"A force of the 828th Brigade (Bisalh), which operated in the area, identified and eliminated three terrorists. After completing the process of identifying the body, it can now be confirmed that he was eliminated," the IDF concluded.
הרמטכ״ל, רב-אלוף הרצי הלוי וראש שירות הביטחון הכללי, רונן בר הגיעו היום לנקודה בה חוסל יחיא סינוואר, עם מפקד פיקוד הדרום, אלוף ירון פינקלמן, ראש אגף המבצעים, אלוף עודד בסיוק ומפקד אוגדת עזה, תת-אלוף ברק חירם pic.twitter.com/xyKR8acFFn
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline)Sinwar's death came by chance
In recent months, Israel has conducted a series of airstrikes targeting senior figures from Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Among those targeted was Mohammed Deif, the head of Hamas' military wing, whom Israel claimed to have killed in an airstrike, though Hamas stated he survived.
However, in the case of Yahya Sinwar, his death came by chance. According to an Israeli military official, Sinwar "engaged in combat" with Israeli forces in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city. He was spotted fleeing into a building, which was then struck by tank fire. While Israeli forces suspected high-ranking Hamas officials were nearby, Sinwar was not the specific target of the day’s operations, the official noted, speaking anonymously under military briefing rules.
During a visit to the site, Israel’s army chief Herzi Halevi acknowledged that while many special operations during the war were based on excellent intelligence, “Here, we didn’t have that, and the response was very, very strong."
Photos circulating online showed a body resembling Sinwar, with a severe head wound, dressed in a military-style vest, partially buried in the rubble of the building. Israeli security officials confirmed the authenticity of the images, which were taken at the scene by security personnel.
🚨BREAKING NEWS : A photo has been making the rounds on social media showing what’s claimed to be the body of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
Reports suggest a major attack happened tonight in the Rafah area. However, it’s still unclear if Sinwar was actually the target. pic.twitter.com/VnwSbVhxl5
PM Netanyahu too said that Sinwar and "many of the mass murderers" of Hamas were hiding in Rafah and claimed that the Hamas leader was "eliminated while fleeing in panic" from Israeli soldiers.
"It is now clear to everyone why Israel insisted on not ending the war", he goes on to say, adding that it entered Rafah despite international pressure not to do so.
Confirmation of Sinwar's identity
The Israeli military reported that three militants were killed in the operation, with police confirming one of them as Yahya Sinwar through dental records and fingerprints, while DNA testing is still underway.
Sinwar, who was imprisoned by Israel from the late 1980s until 2011, had undergone treatment for brain cancer during his incarceration, providing Israeli authorities with detailed medical records.
Reports indicated that police documentation of the identification tests conducted on the body had produced a “full match” to Sinwar, further proving his death.
1) Photo shows the body Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar making its way to Israel for identification.
Israel Police Spokesperson’s Unit: The Israel Police Identification Lab has completed the identification tests for Yahya Sinwar, confirming his elimination with certainty.
The >> pic.twitter.com/iZuahXIfvx
Dental Records from when Yahya Sinwar was in Prison, are a “Full-Match” to the Teeth on the Body discovered in Southern Gaza. With Israeli Officials only awaiting the last few DNA Tests to confirm his Elimination. pic.twitter.com/DYseSRleoG
— Alex Kennedy (@therealmindman)Israeli leaders hailed the killing of Yahya Sinwar as a measure of retribution, just over a year after Hamas militants launched a shocking attack from Gaza into southern Israel. They also framed it as a turning point, urging Hamas to surrender and release around 100 hostages still being held.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had “settled its account” with the man behind the October 7 attack. But he added, “Today evil has suffered a heavy blow, but the task before us is not yet complete.”
He said it was an “important moment in the war” to bring home the hostages and that anyone in Hamas who surrendered weapons and assisted with hostage’s return would be allowed to leave Gaza safely. Around 100 hostages remain in Gaza, with estimates suggesting that about a third of them may have already died.
"Whoever lays down their weapon and returns our hostages will be allowed to leave and live. At the same time, whoever harms our hostages, his blood is on his own head. We will settle accounts with him," the Israel PM warned.
חיסלנו את סינוואר. pic.twitter.com/rq7qGRewzo
— Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu)Who was Yahya Sinwar?
Yahya Sinwar, a long-standing and influential figure within Hamas, was one of the key leaders of the Islamist militant group that governs Gaza. Known for his unyielding commitment to Hamas’s ideology, Sinwar played a central role in shaping its military operations, and his name became more widely known following the attacks of 7 October last year, which led to one of the deadliest escalations in the Israel-Palestine conflict in decades.
Israeli officials swiftly identified Sinwar as the mastermind behind the surprise assault on Israel, which he had dubbed “Operation al-Aqsa Flood.” The attack, meticulously planned and executed, resulted in the deaths of approximately 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and the abduction of more than 250 individuals. Sinwar’s ability to keep the operation largely secret, involving only a few close aides, shocked Israeli investigators.
This attack set off a brutal Israeli retaliation in Gaza, leading to widespread destruction and the deaths of tens of thousands, further cementing Sinwar’s reputation as a militant leader willing to escalate violence in pursuit of his goals. The Israeli offensive that followed left swathes of Gaza in ruins and intensified the already volatile situation.
Sinwar's journey from a refugee camp in Khan Younis, where he was born in 1962 to parents displaced in the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict, to the military leader of Hamas, illustrates his deep-rooted involvement in the Palestinian cause. His early years were shaped by hardship and displacement, which led him into Islamist activism as a teenager. Over the decades, Sinwar became known for his strategic prowess, ruthlessness, and willingness to use violence to further the aims of Hamas.