The Israeli military announced on Thursday that it is investigating the possibility of having killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar during an operation in the Gaza Strip, which reportedly targeted three militants.
“At this stage, the identity of the terrorists cannot be confirmed,” the military stated. They added that there were no indications that Israeli hostages were in the building where the three militants were killed.
Hamas has not yet commented on the incident. If Sinwar’s death is verified, it would mark a significant achievement for the Israeli military and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, particularly following a series of successful high-profile assassinations of enemy leaders in recent months.
According to Israel’s Army Radio, the incident took place during a focused ground operation in Rafah, located in southern Gaza, where Israeli forces killed the three militants and recovered their bodies.
Visual evidence indicated that one of the deceased might be Sinwar, and DNA testing is currently being conducted. Israel possesses Sinwar’s DNA samples from his time in an Israeli prison.
Sinwar has been on Israel’s wanted list since he was identified as the chief architect behind the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which sparked the ongoing Gaza war. He has successfully evaded capture, likely hiding within the extensive network of tunnels that Hamas has constructed beneath Gaza over the years.
Previously the leader of Hamas in Gaza, Sinwar was elevated to overall leadership following the assassination of former political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last August. Recently, Israel also killed Hasan Nasrallah, the leader of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, in Beirut, along with many of the military wing’s top leaders.
The October 7 attack led by Hamas resulted in the deaths of approximately 1,200 people in Israel and the capture of over 250 hostages. In retaliation, Israel’s military campaign has claimed more than 42,000 lives, devastated much of Gaza, and displaced a significant portion of its population.
