Where did Israel get Sinwar, how was he killed?

Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar had a gunfight with Israeli soldiers in the southern Gaza of Palestine last Wednesday. At one stage he was killed. The Israeli soldiers participating in the operation did not initially know that they had found their country's number 1 enemy. Israeli officials reported this information.

Israeli intelligence agencies have been desperately searching for Sinwar in the Palestinian Gaza Strip for months.

The Israeli army was gradually limiting the area where the head of the Palestinian independence armed organization Hamas, Sinwar Gaza, could carry out organizational activities.

The Israeli army announced on Thursday that Sinwar was killed in a raid in southern Gaza on Wednesday. Through DNA tests along with fingerprints, they confirmed that Sinwar was killed.

Hamas has not commented on Sinwar's death. However, the organization's internal sources say, from the indications they are getting, it seems that Sinwar was killed by Israeli forces.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Security Agency (ISA) have conducted numerous operations in Gaza over the past year, the Israeli military said in a statement. Even the area where Sinwar was killed has been raided in recent weeks. As a result of these raids, Sinwar's activities were limited. Israeli forces were chasing him. Finally he was eliminated.

On July 13, the military commander of Hamas, Mohammad Deif, was killed in an Israeli airstrike. Israel has killed him, along with many other Hamas leaders, in planned raids and targeted strikes. In other words, they were attacked and killed by identifying the location. But the operation to kill Sinwar was not planned and well-targeted.

Israeli infantrymen found Sinwar during a search operation in southern Gaza's Tel al Sultan area on Wednesday, Israeli officials said. The Israeli army was carrying out the operation thinking that some senior members of Hamas were staying in the area. The Israeli soldiers were not aware of Sinwar's presence there.

Israeli officials said that during the operation, troops saw three suspects moving through various buildings. At one point they opened fire. A gun battle started between the two sides. At this time, Sinwar moved and entered a ruined building.

According to Israeli media reports, Israeli forces later fired multiple rounds from tanks at the building. Apart from this they also fired a missile.

Yesterday the Israeli military released footage taken from a small drone. The Israeli military says the man seen sitting on the chair in the footage is Sinwar. He has severe injuries on his hands. His face is covered with a scarf. In the footage, he is seen trying to throw a stick at the drone. He thus unsuccessfully tried to throw the drone.

Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Sinwar was only identified by Israeli forces as a Hamas fighter during the operation. With him was a weapon, a protective jacket and 40,000 shekels of Israeli currency.

Daniel Hagari told reporters in a televised briefing that Sinwar tried to escape. But the Israeli forces eliminated him.

The Israeli police are taking the body of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in a car. Southern Israel, October 17, 2024 Photo: Israeli Police/Reuters
Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 last year. Sinwar was the head of Hamas in Gaza at the time. He is believed to be the mastermind behind the attack.

According to Israeli government data, about 1,200 people were killed in the attack by Hamas. In addition, about 250 people were taken hostage to Gaza.

In response, Israel started an indiscriminate attack on Gaza from October 7 last year. According to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry, 42,438 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks.

Last July, the political head of Hamas, Ismail Haniya, was assassinated in Tehran, the capital of Iran. Israel was blamed for his murder. After the assassination of Haniya, Sinwar became the overall leader of Hamas.

In the last months of his life, Sinwar is believed to have stopped using telephones and other means of communication, so that Israeli intelligence could not find him.

Israeli officials said they believed Sinwar had been operating from inside the vast network of tunnels built by Hamas in Gaza for the past two decades. However, since the start of the Gaza war, Israeli forces have been finding tunnels one after another. This made it unsafe for him to stay in the tunnel.

Israeli army chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said they had been chasing Sinwar for the past year. This pursuit by the Israeli forces forced Sinwar to flee like a fugitive. He was forced to change places many times.

In the eyes of Israeli officials, Sinwar is a "ruthless" and determined enemy. They believed that he had used himself as a human shield for the hostages to protect them from Israeli attacks. Israeli officials have long been concerned about the operation to capture him.

But when Sinwar was surrounded and killed on Wednesday, Israeli forces found no hostages nearby. However, Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said his DNA sample was found in a tunnel several hundred meters away. Six Israeli hostages were killed by Hamas here in late August.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to eliminate Hamas at the start of the Gaza war. A video statement from Netanyahu's office was broadcast yesterday. He said that Sinwar was killed by the brave soldiers of the Israeli Defense Forces. While this is not the end of the Gaza war, it is the beginning of the end.

Lebanon's armed group Hezbollah, a close ally of Hamas, said it was opening a new chapter in its war against Israel after Israel announced Sinwar's killing. And Iran said Sinwar's killing would further strengthen resistance in the region.