Israeli forces in Gaza killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, a chief architect of last year’s attack on Israel that sparked the war, the military said Thursday. Troops appeared to have run across him unknowingly in a battle, only to discover afterwards that a body in the rubble was Israel’s most-wanted man.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah group said on Friday it was moving to a new and escalating phase in its war against Israel while Iran said “the spirit of resistance will be strengthened” after the killing of Sinwar.
Israeli leaders celebrated his killing as a settling of scores just over a year after Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 250 others in an attack that stunned the country. They also presented it as a turning point in the campaign to destroy Hamas, urging the group to surrender and release some 100 hostages still in Gaza.
“Hamas will no longer rule Gaza,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. “This is the start of the day after Hamas.”
U.S. officials expressed hopes for a cease-fire with Sinwar out of the picture. But eliminating him may not end the devastating war, during which Israel has destroyed much of the Gaza Strip and killed more than 42,000 Palestinians. The Gaza Health Ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but says more than half of those killed were women and children.
Earlier this month Israel opened a new front in its war with Hezbollah, stepping up bombardment in Lebanon and launching a ground campaign against the Iran-backed militia after a year of trading cross-border fire.
Sinwar has been Hamas’ leader inside the Gaza Strip for years. He was elevated to the group’s top leadership position in July after his predecessor, Ismail Haniyeh, was assassinated in an Israeli strike in the Iranian capital, Tehran.
“Our war is not yet ended,” Netanyahu said in his speech about Sinwar’s death.
President 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 talk with Netanyahu “to discuss the pathway for bringing the hostages home to their families, and for ending this war once and for all.”
Sinwar has been Hamas’ leader inside the Gaza Strip for years. He was elevated to the group’s top leadership position in July after his predecessor, Ismail Haniyeh, was assassinated in an Israeli strike in the Iranian capital, Tehran.
In the past months, Israel has assassinated senior figures from Hamas and Hezbollah with airstrikes. Israel has claimed to have killed the head of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, but the group has said he survived.
But in Sinwar’s case, troops found him by chance.
Israel military spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said that Israeli forces identified three Hamas militants running from building to building in Gaza’s southernmost city, Rafah. The troops attempted to shoot them before they ran inside a building.
The Israeli military released drone video showing what it said were Sinwar’s last moments: In a room wrecked by shelling, a man sat in a chair, his face covered with a cloth, possibly to hide his identity. The video showed the man, with one wounded hand, throwing a stick at the drone.
The military then fired an additional shell at the building, causing it to collapse and killing Sinwar, Hagari said. He said Sinwar was found with a bulletproof vest, grenades and 40,000 shekels ($10,707).
Some of Sinwar’s DNA had previously been found in tunnels near where troops found the bodies of six hostages at the end of August, Hagari said.
Photos circulating online showed the body of a man resembling Sinwar with a gaping head wound, dressed in a military-style vest, half buried in the rubble of a destroyed building.
Hundreds of people demonstrated in Tel Aviv on Thursday night for the release of the hostages after news of Sinwar’s death emerged. Some carried signs that read “Sinwar’s end, end the war.”
In the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah, one Palestinian woman displaced from her home in the north said she hoped Sinwar’s death would bring an end to Israel’s campaign.
“What more goals do they have than that? Enough. We want to go back,” Umm Mohammed told the Associated Press.
Some praised Sinwar as a symbol of resistance against Israel’s decades-long occupation of the Palestinians in the West Bank. Ahmed Hamdouna, who also fled his home in northern Gaza, told the AP Hamas would be able to replace him.
“After the leader, a thousand leaders will come,” he said. “After the man, a thousand men will come.”
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