The Israeli military has been searching for more than a year for the Hamas leader, who disappeared in Gaza shortly after he orchestrated the attack on the October 7 festival.

Yahya Sinwar, the 61-year-old leader of Hamas, reportedly spent most of his time hiding in tunnels under the Gaza Strip, along with bodyguards and a "human shield" of Israeli hostages.

However, it seems that he was eventually killed in a chance encounter with an Israeli patrol in southern Gaza.

The hostages were not found. Many details about Sinwar's death are still unknown, but something is known.
 

They accidentally killed him

The Israeli military (IDF) says a unit from the 828th Bislamah Brigade was patrolling the Tal al-Sultan area near Rafah on Wednesday.

Three militants were identified and killed in a clash with Israeli soldiers. At first, there was nothing to indicate the particular importance of this conflict, so the soldiers did not return to the scene until Thursday morning.

And then, when examining the bodies, it was discovered that one of them bore a striking resemblance to the Hamas leader.

However, the body remained in place due to the suspicion of planted mines, so part of the finger was sent to Israel for testing. His body was eventually recovered and transported to Israel later that day, after the area was secured.

Daniel Hagari, an IDF spokesman, said his forces did not know Sinwar was there but continued operations.

He said the soldiers identified three men running from house to house and Sinwar was among them. Sinwar fled into one of the buildings and was killed after being located by a drone.

Yesterday afternoon, Israel announced for the first time that it was investigating the possibility that Sinwar was killed.

Investigation on social networks as well

Minutes after that announcement, pictures of the body of a man with similar facial features to Sinwar, who suffered severe head injuries, appeared on social media.

However, officials cautioned that the identities of the three men killed could not be confirmed at the time.

Shortly afterwards, Israeli sources confirmed that they were "increasingly certain" that they had killed him. All necessary searches were carried out, and Israel later confirmed that Sinwar had been eliminated.

"Eliminated: Yahya Sinwar," the IDF announced on Twitter.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, said that "evil has been dealt a heavy blow" but warned that the war in Gaza is not over.

Sinwar's assassination was a major target for Israel, which marked him for elimination shortly after the October 7 massacre. But his death does not mean the end of the war in Gaza.

While Netanyahu said he had settled scores, he stressed that the war would continue until the remaining 101 hostages, still held by Hamas, were rescued.

"To the families of the hostages, I want to say: this is an important moment in the war. We will continue to fight until all your loved ones, our loved ones, come home."

In Israel, the families of the hostages expressed hope that a ceasefire could now be reached so that their loved ones could return.