On Thursday, the Israeli army stated that it is “checking the possibility” that they killed Hamas top leader Yahya Sinwar, who is said to have orchestrated the Oct. 7 terror attacks on Israel, in the Gaza Strip.
Three militants were killed during an exchange of fire between the Israel Defense Force (IDF) and soldiers in Gaza on Wednesday, but Sinwar’s death hasn’t been confirmed.
“During IDF operations in Gaza, 3 terrorists were eliminated,” The IDF said in a statement Thursday. “The IDF and ISA are checking the possibility that one of the terrorists was Yahya Sinwar.”
The statement also said that there were “no signs of the presence of hostages in the area,” though it has often been believed that Sinwar surrounds himself with hostages in order to lessen the likelihood of being killed.
Who is Yahya Sinwar?
Sinwar, 62, was raised to the role of Hamas’ top leader following the assassination of previous Hamas leader Ismael Haniyeh in July in Tehran, Iran, by a strike that Iran and Hamas say was carried out by Israel. Since then, Sinwar has been regarded as by far the most influential leader in power in Gaza and has been called the “mastermind” behind the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel that left 1,200 people dead and saw more than 250 people taken as hostages, marking the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war.
Sinwar was born in the Khan Younis refugee camp in southwestern Gaza, and joined Hamas at a young age. In 1989, he was convicted of abducting and killing two Israeli soldiers and four Palestinians he suspected were in cahoots, and served 22 years. The Times reports that the DNA of the bodies killed in Gaza will be compared to the DNA collected during his time incarcerated.
Sinwar was eventually released in a 2011 prisoner exchange that freed Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, at which point Sinwar returned to his role with Hamas. He then ascended to a leadership position in Gaza in 2017.
Sinwar’s death is a main objective for Israel
After prisoner and hostage exchange deals have fallen apart multiple times since Oct.7, Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu and his office have stated that the search for Hamas leaders and ending their “governing capabilities” have been at the forefront of their operations in Gaza—operations which, according to Gaza health officials, have killed 41,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, since the war began. Further, Israeli attacks have driven 90 percent of the Palestinian population from their homes and brought over 1.8 million people to crisis levels of hunger, according to the Integrated Food Security Classification.
Sinwar specifically has been at the center of Israel’s hunt, though his elusive whereabouts have been a secret well-kept; still both the United States and Israel have been pouring resources into finding the Hamas leader.
Though Sinwar’s death is not confirmed, Israeli Defense Minister Yael Gallant took to X to provide a vague, but pointed, post in the immediate aftermath of the news, quoting Leviticus, the third book in the Torah: “You will pursue your enemies and they will fall before you by the sword.”
“Our enemies cannot hide. We will pursue and eliminate them,” Gallant wrote.
