New Delhi: Israel killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar on Wednesday. He was searching for Sinwar for the last one year. According to the information related to this operation that is now coming to light, the Israeli soldiers did not even know that they had killed the ‘enemy number one’ of the Jewish nation.
Israel officially announced the death of Yahya Sinwar on Thursday night. “Sinwar, the mastermind of the October 7 attack and massacre, was killed in gunfire on Wednesday in Rafah, southern Gaza,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Shin Bet security agency said in a statement.
According to an October 17 report by The Times of Israel, Sinwar was not directly targeted. When soldiers inspected the spot on Thursday morning, they found out that Sinwar was one of the three terrorists killed in the encounter.
Based on DNA and other tests, it was confirmed that the body was indeed that of Sinwar. A part of Sinwar’s finger was used for investigation. His body was exhumed and brought to Israel on Thursday.
In a joint statement, the IDF and Shin Bet said that Israeli military activities gradually limited Sinwar’s area of operations, which ultimately led to his death.
The statement said that over the past few weeks, the 162nd Division and the Gaza Division operated in areas of Gaza where, according to intelligence, senior Hamas officials were hiding. A unit of the 828th Bislamach Brigade killed Sinwar and two other terrorists, the statement said.
The army said three terrorists were spotted, fired upon and injured. Two terrorists entered one building and the third, who turned out to be Sinwar, entered another building. The other two terrorists were apparently Sinwar’s bodyguards and were walking ahead of him to clear his path.
IDF tanks and other forces began firing on both buildings. After this Sinwar went to the second floor. The tank fired another shell at the building, and an infantry unit moved forward to search.
Sinwar threw two grenades, one of which exploded, causing the soldiers to retreat and a drone was flown in to search the room. He found a man (Sinwar) whose hand was injured and his face was covered – he threw a wooden stick at the drone. Another tank shell was fired at the man, killing him.
On Thursday morning, soldiers searching the building looked at the face of the slain terrorist and found that he resembled Sinwar. The Shin Bet took DNA and a part of his finger to verify his identity. There was no hostage with Sinwar at that time.
The Times of Israel reports that IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari admitted at a Thursday night press conference that the military ‘identified him as a terrorist in a building’ and that they did not know it was Sinwar. “We fired on the building and went inside to search. We found him with a flak jacket and a gun and NIS 40,000,” he said.
Hagari said Israel was searching for Muhammad Sinwar, the brother of the slain Hamas leader, and all Hamas military commanders.
The IDF released drone footage of the wounded Sinwar’s final moments on Thursday night. Since he had a cloth tied over his head during the firing, his identity became clear only after he was killed. The army said there were no hostages present in the area where the three terrorists were killed.
According to Israel, he was the mastermind of the October 7 attack last year. 1200 people were killed in this attack while more than 250 people were taken hostage.
After this attack, the Jewish state declared war against Hamas and started attacks on the Gaza Strip controlled by the Palestinian group. Israel’s military campaign has caused massive destruction in Gaza. According to Al Jazeera’s Friday report, at least 42,438 people have been killed and 99,246 injured in Israeli attacks in Gaza since October 7, 2023.
–IANS
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