How was Yahya Sinwar killed? What we know so far

On Thursday, news that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, 62, had been killed fighting a group of Israeli trainee soldiers who came upon him by chance first began to circulate.

On Friday, Hamas confirmed his death while engaged in battle in Tal as-Sultan, Rafah, on Wednesday.

The fact that Sinwar died fighting has added a final chapter to his story as a fighter and leader who has been involved with Hamas since its founding.

Who was Yayha Sinwar?

Sinwar was Hamas’s leader.

He led Hamas in Gaza since the deaths of the group’s political leaders, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran and senior commander Mohammed Deif in Gaza in July this year.

He spent 22 years in Israeli prison before being released in 2011 during a prisoner exchange.

He was said to have directed Hamas’s response to the Israeli war on Gaza as well as the negotiations for a ceasefire.

Negotiators at peace talks in Cairo and Doha say Hamas officials would halt discussions to defer to Sinwar in Gaza for instructions.

Over the past year, the Israeli military has combed what remains of the Gaza Strip after it levelled much of the enclave’s infrastructure and killed more than 42,000 people.

Israel has been trying to kill Sinwar for allegedly planning the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, during which 1,139 people died and about 250 were taken captive.

How was Sinwar killed? Was it part of a specific operation?

No.

At some point between 2pm and 3pm on Wednesday, a patrol from the Bislach Brigade training unit of the Israeli army was conducting searches of the Tal as-Sultan neighbourhood in Rafah.

They saw a small group of fighters moving between buildings, one of whom was later identified as Sinwar.

Using drones to help pinpoint the fighters’ locations, the patrol exchanged fire with the group, killing three fighters.

One fighter moved into a damaged building, and the patrol sent a drone after him.

Defiant to the end, Sinwar, who was injured and resting in a damaged armchair, threw a stick at the drone that was searching the building to find the last masked fighter.

The building was then shelled by tanks and missiles, killing Sinwar.

His body remained undisturbed for some time as the soldiers were afraid of booby traps, and waited until the area had been secured.

Sinwar’s body was then taken to a laboratory in Israel where police confirmed a match with his dental and fingerprint records, taken during his previous imprisonment.

Where was Sinwar killed?

In Tal as-Sultan, a neighbourhood the Israeli army has already mostly destroyed.

Investigative group Bellingcat has verified the location, using footage the Israeli army shot in September.

This suggests that the district was already known to Israeli troops before their chance encounter with the Hamas leader this week.

Geolocation for where Sinwar’s body was found in Tal as-Sultan area. House is located at 31.3055, 34.2467. Gazebo (green) is visible with white tower (red) and house across the street (pink) visible in other reference imagery.

Map link: https://t.co/bYZCvt6vKF

CC: @GeoConfirmed pic.twitter.com/OswxlmDhLe

— Jake Godin (@JakeGodin) October 17, 2024

Did Israel find Sinwar using its intelligence?

Reportedly, the unit that stumbled across Sinwar was one of trainee squad commanders who didn’t know the Hamas leader was there, according to the New York Times, citing four unnamed Israeli officials.

Both the US and Israel claim their intelligence contributed to locating Sinwar, or narrowing the area where he could move around.

But there isn’t much evidence to support that.

Responding 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 track Sinwar”, shortly after the Hamas-led attack on Israel.

Israel also rushed to credit its intelligence, claiming their efforts had determined the area where Sinwar was and they had been closing in on the Hamas leader.

What resources had been deployed to locate Sinwar?

Sinwar has been the Israeli government’s number-one target in Gaza since October 7, 2023.

A special unit to find Sinwar was established within Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence force.

Supporting Shin Bet, US agencies were said to be intercepting electronic communications to help locate Sinwar and providing “ground-penetrating radar”.

Despite all this, the man described as a “dead man walking” by the Israeli military, evaded detection by one of the world’s most sophisticated surveillance networks.

Israeli and American officials said Sinwar was harder to find because he didn’t use electronic communications, which could be tracked.

In February, Israeli officials said Sinwar was hiding in Hamas’s tunnels, surrounding himself with captives who were being used as human shields, according to the Washington Post.

Israeli soldiers searched the vicinity of where Sinwar died fighting but found no captives being used as human shields.

Has Israel come close to killing Sinwar before?

It certainly claims it has.

In May 2021, an Israeli airstrike hit Sinwar’s home in Khan Younis. No casualties were reported.

On November 7 last year, Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant claimed Israeli forces had surrounded Gaza City, and that Sinwar was “trapped” in a bunker there.

On December 6, the Israeli military surrounded Sinwar’s house, despite Israeli media reporting “there being no indication that he was residing there, as he is in hiding and owns multiple homes”.

In September this year, Israel’s Military Intelligence Directorate reportedly suggested Sinwar might have been killed in previous strikes on Gaza. It admitted it had no evidence for that claim other than a recent lack of intercepted communications.

Sinwar communicated with the Hamas negotiating team in Doha the following month.

What happens next?

How Sinwar’s death may affect the course of Israel’s bloody war in Gaza remains to be seen.

Sinwar’s death has elicited further aggressive rhetoric from both Israel’s military leadership and its prime minister, Benyamin Netanyahu, who told television viewers – in an apparent nod to Britain’s WWII leader, Winston Churchill – that while Sinwar’s killing may not mark the end of Israel’s war on Gaza, it may signal “the beginning of the end.”

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