Yahya Sinwar DEAD! Chilling video shows Israeli forces chopping Hamas leader's finger for DNA test (WATCH)
Photos and videos circulating online showed a man resembling Sinwar with a gaping head wound, his index finger chopped off, dressed in a military-style vest, half buried in the rubble of a destroyed building.
The Israeli military on Thursday night confirmed that Yahya Sinwar, Hamas leader behind the deadly October 7 massacre, has been eliminated in an operation in Gaza. Israeli officials confirmed Sinwar's death after comparing dental records, fingerprints, and conducting DNA testing on a body recovered from the site. Photos and videos circulating online showed a man resembling Sinwar with a gaping head wound, his index finger chopped off, dressed in a military-style vest, half buried in the rubble of a destroyed building.
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Sinwar's final moments
Israeli military officials also released a drone footage that they claim shows the final moments of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
The video depicts Sinwar sitting alone on a sofa in a destroyed apartment, his head and face obscured by a scarf. The walls of the building appear to be blown out from shelling, and Sinwar seen hunched in a chair, covered in dust, with his right arm severely wounded. And at one point, the footage shows Sinwar flinging a stick over his head in the direction of the approaching drone.
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.
Sinwar, who had led Hamas in Gaza since 2017, was described by Israeli and US officials as the mastermind behind the October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of around 1,200 people and the taking of 251 hostages.
In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, "Today, as we promised to do, we settled the score with him."
"Yahya Sinwar is dead. He was killed in Rafah by the brave soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces. While this is not the end of the war in Gaza, it's the beginning of the end," Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu added that Sinwar's killing is part of Israel's ongoing efforts to bring justice to those responsible for the October 7 attacks and to secure the release of hostages still held by Hamas.