Israel and the US claim intelligence provided Sinwar’s whereabouts, but this is doubtful.
On Thursday, news that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, 62, had been killed fighting a group of Israeli trainee soldiers who came upon him by chance first began to circulate.
On Friday, Hamas confirmed his death while engaged in battle in Tal as-Sultan, Rafah, on Wednesday.
The fact that Sinwar died fighting has added a final chapter to his story as a fighter and leader who has been involved with Hamas since its founding.
Sinwar was Hamas’s leader.
He led Hamas in Gaza since the deaths of the group’s political leaders, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran and senior commander Mohammed Deif in Gaza in July this year.
He spent 22 years in Israeli prison before being released in 2011 during a prisoner exchange.
He was said to have directed Hamas’s response to the Israeli war on Gaza as well as the negotiations for a ceasefire.
Negotiators at peace talks in Cairo and Doha say Hamas officials would halt discussions to defer to Sinwar in Gaza for instructions.
No.
At some point between 2pm and 3pm on Wednesday, a patrol from the Bislach Brigade training unit of the Israeli army was conducting searches of the Tal as-Sultan neighbourhood in Rafah.
They saw a small group of fighters moving between buildings, one of whom was later identified as Sinwar.
Who was Yayha Sinwar?
Using drones to help pinpoint the fighters’ locations, the patrol exchanged fire with the group, killing three fighters.
One fighter moved into a damaged building, and the patrol sent a drone after him.
His body remained undisturbed for some time as the soldiers were afraid of booby traps, and waited until the area had been secured.
Sinwar’s body was then taken to a laboratory in Israel where police confirmed a match with his dental and fingerprint records, taken during his previous imprisonment.
In Tal as-Sultan, a neighbourhood the Israeli army has already mostly destroyed.
Investigative group Bellingcat has verified the location, using footage the Israeli army shot in September.
This suggests that the district was already known to Israeli troops before their chance encounter with the Hamas leader this week.
Reportedly, the unit that stumbled across Sinwar was one of trainee squad commanders who didn’t know the Hamas leader was there, according to the New York Times, citing four unnamed Israeli officials.
Both the US and Israel claim their intelligence contributed to locating Sinwar, or narrowing the area where he could move around.
But there isn’t much evidence to support that.
Responding to news of Sinwar’s death, US President Joe Biden said he had “directed Special Operations personnel and our intelligence professionals to work side-by-side with their Israeli counterparts to help locate and track Sinwar”, shortly after the Hamas-led attack on Israel.
Israel also rushed to credit its intelligence, claiming their efforts had determined the area where Sinwar was and they had been closing in on the Hamas leader.
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