On Thursday, news began to circulate that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, 62, had been killed fighting a group of trainee Israeli soldiers who chanced upon him.
On Friday, Hamas confirmed his death while engaged in battle in Tal as-Sultan, Rafah, on Wednesday.
Sinwar’s death in combat added a final chapter to his story as a fighter and leader involved in Hamas since its creation.
Who was Yayha Sinwar?
Sinwar was the leader of Hamas.
He has led Hamas in Gaza since the deaths of the group’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran and commander Mohammed Deif in Gaza in July this year.
He spent 22 years in an Israeli prison before being released in 2011 in a prisoner exchange.
He is said to have led Hamas’ response to Israel’s war on Gaza as well as negotiations for a ceasefire.
Negotiators at peace talks in Cairo and Doha said Hamas officials would break off talks to defer to Sinwar in Gaza for instructions.
Over the past year, the Israeli army has combed what remains of the Gaza Strip after razing much of the enclave’s infrastructure and killing more than 42,000 people.
Israel attempted to kill Sinwar for allegedly planning the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, in which 1,139 people died and around 250 were captured.
How was Sinwar killed? Was this part of a specific operation?
No.
Between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Wednesday, a patrol from the Israeli army’s Bislach Brigade training unit was carrying out searches in the Tal as-Sultan neighborhood of Rafah.
They saw a small group of fighters moving between buildings, one of whom was later identified as Sinwar.
Using drones to locate the fighters, the patrol exchanged fire with the group, killing three fighters.
A fighter moved into a damaged building and the patrol sent a drone after him.
Defiant to the end, Sinwar, injured and resting in a damaged chair, threw a stick at the drone that was searching the building for the last masked fighter.
The building was then bombarded by tanks and missiles, killing Sinwar.
His body lay still for some time as the soldiers were afraid of the traps and were waiting for the area to be secured.
Sinwar’s body was then taken to a laboratory in Israel where police confirmed a match to his dental records and fingerprints, taken during his previous imprisonment.
Where was Sinwar killed?
In Tal as-Sultan, a neighborhood that the Israeli army has already largely destroyed.
The Bellingcat investigative group verified the location, using footage shot by the Israeli military in September.
This suggests that the neighborhood was already known to Israeli troops before their chance meeting with the Hamas leader this week.
Geolocation of where Sinwar’s body was found in the Tal as-Sultan region. The house is located at 31.3055, 34.2467. The gazebo (green) is visible with the white tower (red) and house across the street (pink) visible in other reference images.
Link to map:
CC: @GeoConfirmed pic.twitter.com/OswxlmDhLe
– Jake Godin (@JakeGodin) October 17, 2024
Did Israel find Sinwar using its intelligence?
It appears that the unit that fell on Sinwar was one of the trainee squad commanders who did not know the Hamas leader was there, according to the New York Times, citing four unnamed Israeli officials.
The United States and Israel say their intelligence services helped locate Sinwar or narrow the area in which he could travel.
But there isn’t much evidence to support this.
In response to news of Sinwar’s death, US President Joe Biden said he had “directed special operations personnel and our intelligence professionals to work side by side with their Israeli counterparts to help locate and follow Sinwar”, shortly after the attack carried out by Hamas against Israel.
Israel was also quick to credit its intelligence, saying their efforts had helped determine the area where Sinwar was located and that they had moved closer to the Hamas leader.
What means were deployed to locate Sinwar?
Sinwar has been the Israeli government’s number one target in Gaza since October 7, 2023.
A special unit tasked with finding Sinwar was created within the Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence force.
In support of the Shin Bet, U.S. agencies would intercept electronic communications to help locate Sinwar and provide “ground-penetrating radar.”
Despite all this, the man described as a “walking dead man” by the Israeli military has escaped detection by one of the world’s most sophisticated surveillance networks.
Israeli and U.S. officials said Sinwar was harder to track because he did not use electronic communications, which could be tracked.
In February, Israeli officials said Sinwar was hiding in Hamas tunnels, surrounding himself with captives who served as human shields, according to the Washington Post.
Israeli soldiers searched the area around where Sinwar died in combat, but did not find any captives used as human shields.
Did Israel ever almost kill Sinwar?
He certainly claims so.
In May 2021, an Israeli airstrike hit Sinwar’s house in Khan Younis. No casualties have been reported.
On November 7 last year, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant claimed that Israeli forces had surrounded Gaza City and that Sinwar was “trapped” in a bunker there.
On December 6, the Israeli army surrounded Sinwar’s house, although Israeli media reported “there was no indication that he was residing there, as he is in hiding and owns several houses.”
In September this year, the Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate reportedly suggested that Sinwar may have been killed in previous strikes on Gaza. He admitted that he had no proof for this claim other than the recent lack of intercepted communications.
Sinwar communicated with the Hamas negotiating team in Doha the following month.
What happens next?
It remains to be seen how Sinwar’s death might affect the course of Israel’s bloody war in Gaza.
Sinwar’s death prompted even more aggressive rhetoric from Israel’s military leadership and its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who told viewers – in an apparent nod to British World War II leader Winston Churchill – that while Sinwar’s assassination would not mark the end of Israel’s war on Gaza, it could mean “the beginning of the end.”