The Israeli military has released drone footage it claims captures the final moments of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. The video shows Sinwar sitting alone in a devastated Gaza apartment, with the walls blown apart from shelling.
The Israeli military has released drone footage it claims captures the final moments of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. The video shows Sinwar sitting alone in a devastated Gaza apartment, with the walls blown apart from shelling. He is seen hunched in a chair, covered in dust, with his face and head partially obscured by a scarf. His right arm appears to be severely injured, and at one point, the footage shows Sinwar flinging a stick over his head in the direction of the approaching drone.
Drone footage of an injured Sinwar moments before he was Eliminated pic.twitter.com/om8fXovN8r
— Mossad Commentary (@MOSSADil)Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari stated that at the time the footage was taken, Yahya Sinwar was initially identified only as a fighter. The military subsequently fired another shell at the building, causing it to collapse and resulting in Sinwar’s death, according to Hagari. He added that Sinwar was found wearing a bulletproof vest, carrying grenades, and holding 40,000 shekels ($10,707).
“Sinwar fled alone into one of the buildings. Our forces used a drone to scan the area, which you can see here in the footage I’m presenting," Hagari said.
"Sinwar, who was injured in his hand by gunfire, can be seen here with his face covered, in his final moments, throwing a wooden plank at the drone. He tried to escape and our forces eliminated him," he added.
Photos circulating online show a man resembling Yahya Sinwar with a severe head wound, dressed in a military-style vest, partially buried in the rubble of a destroyed building. Israeli officials stated that Sinwar was discovered by infantry soldiers in the Tal El Sultan area of southern Gaza on Wednesday, where senior Hamas members were believed to be located.
The troops reportedly spotted three suspected militants moving between buildings and opened fire, sparking a gunfight during which Sinwar fled into a ruined building. In the final months of his life, Sinwar, the mastermind behind the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza, had apparently stopped using phones and other communication devices to evade Israel's intelligence services.
Israeli authorities believed he was hiding in Hamas’s vast tunnel network beneath Gaza, but as Israeli troops uncovered more tunnels, even that became an unreliable refuge. Intelligence services had been hunting Sinwar for months, gradually shrinking the area in which he could operate. His death was finally confirmed through dental records, fingerprints, and DNA testing.