The Israeli military has stated that it may have killed Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader responsible for the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that ignited the Gaza war.
In a statement on Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed they had eliminated three militants during operations in the Gaza Strip and were investigating the possibility that one of them was Sinwar. At this point, the identities of the militants have not been confirmed.
Israeli media, citing security officials, reported that the bodies were taken to Israel for DNA testing, with a “high probability” that Sinwar was among those killed. Kan Radio noted that his death appeared to be accidental rather than the result of a targeted operation. The militants were found with large amounts of cash and fake identification.
The incident occurred in Rafah, southern Gaza, during a ground operation where Israeli troops killed three militants. Visual evidence and DNA tests are being used to confirm if one of them was Sinwar. The IDF has DNA samples from Sinwar’s time in Israeli prison.
Yahya Sinwar, 61, played a central role in planning the deadly October 7 attack and had been a top target for Israel. He had a long history with Hamas, serving as an enforcer and rising to leadership.
He was sentenced to four life terms in 1989 for the abduction and murder of Israeli soldiers and suspected Palestinian collaborators but was released in a 2011 prisoner exchange. He became Hamas’s leader in Gaza in 2017 and survived multiple Israeli assassination attempts.
