Israeli Foreign Minister Confirms Hamas Leader Yahya Sinwar Killed in Gaza

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel’s foreign minister confirmed that Israeli troops in Gaza killed top Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, one of the main architects of the Gaza attack. last year against Israel which started the war.

Sinwar has topped Israel’s most wanted list since Israel’s war with Hamas began just over a year ago, and his killing is a powerful blow to the militant group. There was no immediate confirmation from Hamas of his death.

Foreign Minister Katz called Sinwar’s killing “a military and moral achievement for the Israeli army.”

“The assassination of Sinwar will create the possibility of immediately releasing the hostages and bringing about change that will lead to a new reality in Gaza – without Hamas and without Iranian control,” he said in a statement.

THIS IS A LATEST UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Israeli military said Thursday it was investigating whether Hamas’s top leader, Yahya Sinwar, was killed during a military operation in Gaza. Authorities were carrying out DNA tests on a body to determine whether it was him, an Israeli security official said.

The army said in a statement that three militants were killed during operations in Gaza, without specifying where or giving further details. The identities of the three men have not yet been confirmed, but she is “checking the possibility” that one of them is Sinwar.

The security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, said tests on the body had not yet confirmed whether it was Sinwar.

Hamas had no immediate comment on the report.

Sinwar was one of the main architects of Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and Israel has vowed to kill him since its retaliatory campaign in Gaza began. If confirmed, Sinwar’s death could be a major blow to the militant group. He has been Hamas’ main leader in the Gaza Strip for years, closely linked to its military wing while significantly boosting its capabilities.

Another Israeli security official said it appeared the man believed to be Sinwar was killed in a battle, not a planned targeted airstrike.

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. The security official confirmed that the photos were taken on site by Israeli security officials. The official spoke on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing investigation.

Israeli authorities said the police, army and Shin Bet security services were working to confirm the identification through a number of different tests. So far, police have checked dental records, a police spokesperson said. They are still waiting for the full DNA test results.

Sinwar was imprisoned by Israel from the late 1980s until 2011, and during that time he underwent treatment for brain cancer – leaving Israeli authorities with an extensive medical file.

President Joe Biden was briefed on Israel’s investigation into whether Sinwar was killed, and U.S. officials were in close contact with Israeli officials throughout Thursday morning, according to a senior Israeli official. ‘administration.

Sinwar was chosen as Hamas’s supreme leader in July after his predecessor, Ismail Haniyeh, was assassinated in an apparent Israeli strike in the Iranian capital, Tehran. Israel also claimed to have killed the head of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, in an airstrike, but the group said he survived.

The announcement of his death comes as Israeli forces have continued for more than a week a major air and ground offensive against the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza. On Thursday, an Israeli strike hit a school housing displaced Palestinians, killing at least 28 people, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

Fares Abu Hamza, head of the Gaza Health Ministry’s emergency unit in the north, said the dead included a woman and four children, correcting an earlier report of five children. According to him, dozens of people were injured.

The Israeli military said it targeted a command center run by Hamas and Islamic Jihad inside the school. He provided a list of a dozen names of people he identified as activists and who were present when the strike was called. It was not immediately possible to verify these names.

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

Israel launched its campaign in Gaza to eliminate Hamas after the militants stormed southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping around 250 others. Around a hundred captives are still in Gaza, around a third of whom are believed to have died.

The Israeli offensive has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry. It does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but indicates that women and children represent a little more than half of the victims.

Northern Gaza was the first target of the Israeli ground invasion almost a year ago and suffered the heaviest destruction of the war, with entire neighborhoods of Gaza City and other towns reduced to ruins. Most of the population fled after Israel issued evacuation orders in the first days of the war, but around 400,000 people are estimated to have remained despite the harsh conditions.

Earlier this month, Israel again ordered a large-scale evacuation of the north and did not allow any food aid into the region for about two weeks. This has led many Palestinians to fear that they have adopted a capitulation or starvation strategy suggested by former Israeli generals.

Israel allowed two aid shipments into the north earlier this week after the United States warned it could cut military aid if its ally did not do more to respond to the humanitarian crisis.

Since the start of the conflict, Israeli forces have launched repeated operations in Jabaliya, a densely populated urban refugee camp dating from the 1948 war that surrounded Israel’s creation. The military says militants have regrouped there several times after major operations.

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Magdy reported from Cairo, Jeffery from Jerusalem. Associated Press writer Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed.

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