Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed in an operation conducted by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.
Photos circulating on Thursday morning appeared to depict Sinwar’s body among a pile of rubble in Gaza, though the IDF could not initially confirm that it was him. After further investigation, the IDF and an Israeli intelligence agency verified that it was indeed Sinwar who had been killed in the strike, along with two other Hamas terrorists; there were no signs of hostages in the vicinity.
“Yahya Sinwar was eliminated after hiding for the past year behind the civilian population of Gaza, both above and below ground in Hamas tunnels in the Gaza Strip,” the IDF said in a statement, noting that recent military operations had restricted Sinwar’s “movement as he was pursued by the forces and led to his elimination.”
Justin Logan, director of defense and foreign policy at the CATO Institute, told the Daily Caller News Foundation that Sinwar’s death leaves Israel with a multitude of options going forward in the war.
“I don’t know what the Israelis are inclined to want to do in Gaza in particular, but this does open a number of possibilities, including some sort of declaration of victory,” Logan said. “After all, they’ve killed the mastermind of the October 7 attack. And so what sort of political import Do you want to attribute to that? I think that’s really a question that only you know the upper leadership in Israel can answer.”
Seen as the architect of Hamas’ invasion against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the terrorist group’s prime leader, Sinwar has been a target of Israel for years. Hamas’ invasion on Oct. 7 ended in the killing of approximately 1,200 people and the kidnapping of hundreds of others, sparking an ongoing war in Gaza.
Sinwar’s reported objective in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war was to let as many Palestinians in Gaza get caught in the crossfire as possible so that the international community would begin to turn on Israel. In line with Hamas’ charter, Sinwar has long said that the destruction of Israel is the terrorist group’s primary goal.
“We make the headlines only with blood,” Sinwar said in an interview in 2018, according to The Wall Street Journal. “No blood, no news.”
Sinwar continually rejected opportunities for a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas over the last year, coming to the conclusion that he would not survive the conflict and instead wanted to see it spiral into a larger war, according to The New York Times.
Sinwar is suspected of having gone into hiding in tunnels underneath Gaza after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks. His body was found in the rubble of an above-ground building in southern Gaza on Thursday.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated.
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