‘Israel’s greatest enemy’: Who is slain Hamas leader Y. Sinwara and how will his death change the course of the war?

The Israeli military “confirms that yesterday, October 16, 2024, after a year-long pursuit, during an operation in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, soldiers of the Southern Command of the IDF (army) eliminated the leader of the terrorist organization Hamas, Yahya Sinwar,” the army said in a statement.

Before that, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Israel Katz, announced his death.

Hamas has not yet confirmed the death of 61-year-old Y. Sinwar.

Disappeared at the beginning of the war

Yahya Sinwara disappeared at the start of the war, sparked by unprecedented attacks by Hamas that have killed around 1,200 people and taken another 251 hostage.

Thousands of Israeli soldiers, supported by drones, electronic listening devices and human informants, tried to find out his whereabouts, according to the BBC.

“Yahya Sinwara is a commander … and he is dead,” said Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari.

Sinwara was believed to have spent much of the past year cornered underground, hiding with his bodyguards in tunnels somewhere beneath the Gaza Strip. He communicated with very few people for fear that his signal would be traced and he would be found. Israel also feared that he would surround himself with Israeli hostages as human shields.

But in the end, soldiers operating in southern Gaza killed Sinwar in a building that the IDF said showed no signs of hostages. His death was announced by the Israel Defense Forces on Thursday after specialists identified his body through fingerprints and dental data.

“The perpetrator of the greatest massacre in our nation’s history since the Holocaust, a ferocious terrorist who killed thousands of Israelis and kidnapped hundreds of our citizens, was killed today by our heroic soldiers,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. “Today, as promised, we settled with him.”

Hailing the killing, he said that “evil has been dealt a heavy blow” and that Mr. Sinwar’s death represents a huge influence in the downfall of the Palestinian group.

“Today evil has been dealt a severe blow,” Netanyahu said in a video statement, adding: “His elimination is an important stage in the decline of the evil rule of Hamas.”

“The Walking Dead”