Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar killed in Gaza by Israeli forces

Israel Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a press release that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed in an Israeli military’s operation in the Gaza Strip on Thursday.  Sinwar had been credited as the mastermind behind the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that led to the deaths of 1,200 people, the worst terrorist attack in Israel’s history. The IDF initially said they were “checking the possibility” that the Hamas leader was among three militants killed in an operation in Gaza and were working to confirm identification through dental images and DNA testing.

Israeli authorities have been pursuing Sinwar for a year and that he had been hiding “behind the civilian population of Gaza, both above and below ground in Hamas tunnels in the Gaza Strip.”   A post on X from the Israel Defense Forces simply read: “Eliminated: Yahya Sinwar.”  

Katz said in a statement: “The master murderer Yahya Sinwar, who is responsible for the massacre and atrocities of October 7, was killed today by IDF soldiers. This is a great military and moral achievement for Israel and a victory for the entire free world against the evil axis of extreme Islam led by Iran.” Katz said Sinwar’s death “creates a possibility for the immediate release of the abductees and to bring about a change that will lead to a new reality in Gaza — without Hamas and without Iranian control.”

Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant said in a statement: “Sinwar died while beaten, persecuted and on the run — he didn’t die as a commander, but as someone who only cared for himself. This is a clear message to all of our enemies – the IDF will reach anyone who attempts to harm the citizens of Israel or our security forces, and we will bring you to justice.” Israeli President Isaac Herzog added that Israel “must act in every way possible to bring back the 101 hostages” still in Gaza.

Sinwar, 62, had served as Hamas’ leader in Gaza since 2017 and assumed leadership of the group’s political bureau after the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh during an airstrike on his residence in Tehran, Iran this July. In 1989, an Israeli court sentenced Sinwar to four life sentences for his role in killing suspected Palestinian informers and plotting to murder two Israeli soldiers. Sinwar spent the following 22 years in prison before becoming one of more than 1,000 Palestinian detainees released in 2011 in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who had been held hostage by Hamas for five years (per NBC News).

U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, who serves as chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said in a statement that “justice has been served to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar,” with the hope that Sinwar’s death “results in further progress toward the release of all hostages still held in Gaza, as well as to a ceasefire for Palestinians who have suffered under Hamas’ grip for far too long.”

In a statement Thursday, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters (which represents the families of hostages held by Hamas) said it welcomed the possibility of Sinwar’s killing and urged the leveraging of “this major achievement to secure hostages’ return.”  Approximately 250 people taken hostage into Gaza during the Oct. 7 attacks. According to Israeli officials, 154 have been freed, with 101 hostages still held in Gaza, and 33 believed dead.

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