Israel confirms the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar

Jerusalem (AFP) – Israeli forces in Gaza killed a leader of the Hamas movement Yahya Al-SanwarThe Israeli military announced Thursday that it was the main planner of last year’s attack on Israel that sparked the war. It seemed that the forces had encountered him without his knowledge in one of the battles, only to discover later that the body under the rubble was the number one wanted man in Israel.

Israeli leaders celebrated his death as a settling of scores just over a year after Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 250 others in an attack that killed 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 250 others. The country was stunned. They also presented it as a turning point in Campaign to destroy HamasHe urged the group to surrender and release about 100 hostages still in Gaza.

Hamas will no longer rule Gaza. “This is the beginning of the next day for Hamas,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

American officials expressed Hopes for a ceasefire With the Sinwar out of the picture. but Eliminating him may not end the devastating warDuring which Israel destroyed a large part of the Gaza Strip and killed more than 42 thousand Palestinians. The Ministry of Health in Gaza does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but says that more than half of the dead were women and children.

The killing of Sinwar constitutes a devastating blow to Hamas, but the movement, which receives support from Iran, He proved his resilience in the face of previous losses of leaders. There was no immediate confirmation from Hamas regarding Sinwar’s death.

Netanyahu said that Israel would continue fighting until all the hostages were released, and that it would maintain control of Gaza long enough to ensure that Hamas would not rearm — an effective occupation that raises the prospect of months or even years of detention. The fighting continues.

Earlier this month, Israel opened a new front on its territory The war with HezbollahIt has stepped up bombings in Lebanon and launched a ground campaign against Iranian-backed militias after a year of cross-border firefights.

Speaking about the killing of Sinwar, Netanyahu said: “Our war is not over yet.”

President Joe Biden said Sinwar’s death opens the way for “a political settlement that provides a better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike.” He said he would speak with Netanyahu “to discuss a way to return the hostages to their families and end this war once and for all.”

Sinwar has been the leader of Hamas inside the Gaza Strip for years. He was promoted to the group’s top leadership position in July after his predecessor, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in an apparent Israeli raid in the Iranian capital, Tehran.

In recent months, Israel has done just that Eliminate a series of VIPs From Hamas and Hezbollah with air strikes. Israel claimed to have killed the head of Hamas’s military wing, Muhammad al-Deif, but the movement said he survived.

But in Sinwar’s case, the forces found him by chance.

Israeli army spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari said that Israeli forces identified three Hamas activists running from one building to another in the city of Rafah in the far south of the Gaza Strip. The forces tried to shoot them before they ran into a building.

The Israeli military released a drone video showing what it said were Sinwar’s final moments: In a room destroyed by the bombing, a man sat on a chair with his face covered with a cloth, perhaps to hide his identity. The video showed the man, with an injured hand, throwing a stick at the drone.

Hajari said that the army then fired an additional shell at the building, causing it to collapse and killing Al-Sanwar. He added that Sinwar was found with a bulletproof vest, hand grenades, and 40,000 shekels ($10,707).

Hajri said that some of Sinwar’s DNA had previously been found in tunnels near where forces found the bodies of six hostages at the end of August. He added that the army believes that weeks of searches in the area prompted Sinwar to come out of hiding.

Pictures circulated on the Internet showed the body of a man resembling Sinwar, with a deep wound in his head, wearing a military jacket, and half buried under the rubble of a destroyed building. The security official confirmed that the photos were taken by Israeli security officials at the scene of the incident. The official spoke on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing investigation.

The army said that three militants were killed in the operation. One of them was confirmed to be Al-Sanwar through dental records, fingerprints and DNA tests, police said. Israel imprisoned Sinwar from the late 1980s until 2011, during which time he underwent treatment for brain cancer – leaving the Israeli authorities with extensive medical records.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant addressed Hamas fighters, saying: “It is time to come out, release the hostages, raise your hands, and surrender.”

Netanyahu said that Israel had “settled its score” with the man behind the October 7 attack, and that “evil has been dealt a heavy blow.” But he added, “The task before us is not yet complete.”

He said that anyone in Hamas who surrenders their weapons and helps in the return of the hostages will be allowed to leave Gaza safely. It is believed that about a third of the prisoners remaining in Gaza have died.

Hundreds of people demonstrated in Tel Aviv on Thursday evening to demand the release of the hostages after news of Sinwar’s death emerged. Some carried banners reading: “End of Sinwar, end the war.”

Evat Calderon, whose cousin Ofer Calderon is being held hostage in Gaza, said he was happy about Sinwar’s death but was “afraid of the 101 hostages. … They might kill them or do something because of Sinwar’s death.”

In the town of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, a Palestinian woman displaced from her home in the north said she hoped Sinwar’s death would lead to an end to the Israeli campaign. “What more goals do they have than that? Enough. We want to go back,” said the woman, Umm Muhammad.

Some praised Sinwar as a symbol of resistance against Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinians in the West Bank. Ahmed Hamdouna, who also fled his home in northern Gaza, said Hamas would be able to replace him. “And after the leader will come a thousand leaders,” he said. “And after the man will come a thousand men.”

For more than a week. Israeli forces are launching a ground campaign in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, saying they are fighting Hamas fighters who have reorganized their ranks there again.

On Thursday, an Israeli strike hit a school housing displaced Palestinians in Jabalia, killing at least 28 people, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. Fares Abu Hamza, head of the emergency unit at the Ministry of Health in northern Gaza, said that among the dead were a woman and four children.

The Israeli army said it targeted a command center run by Hamas and Islamic Jihad inside the school. It provided a list of about a dozen names of people it identified as militants who were present when the strike was carried out. It was not immediately possible to verify the names.

Israel has repeatedly bombed tent camps and schools housing displaced people in Gaza. The Israeli army says it carries out precise strikes on militants and tries to avoid harming civilians, but its strikes often kill women and children.

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Sami Magdy reported from Cairo. AP writers Jack Jeffrey in Jerusalem and Karim Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.

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