JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli forces kill Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya ChinwarThe chief architect of last year’s attack on Israel that sparked the war, the military said Thursday. Troops seem to have run into him in a battle, and later discover a body in the rubble is Israel’s most wanted man.
Israeli leaders celebrated his killing as a resolution a year after Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people and kidnapped 250 in Israel. It stunned the country. They also presented it as a turning point Campaign to destroy HamasIt is urging the group to surrender and release 100 more hostages in Gaza.
“Hamas will no longer rule Gaza. This is the beginning of the next day for Hamas,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
US officials said Expecting a ceasefire With Chinwar from the film. But Eliminating him will not end the destructive warDuring this time Israel destroyed most of the Gaza Strip and killed more than 42,000 Palestinians. Gaza’s health ministry does not distinguish between civilians and fighters, but says more than half of those killed were women and children.
Sinwar’s death is a crippling blow to Hamas, but the group, which enjoys support from Iran, Leaders have proven resilient in the past. There was no immediate confirmation from Hamas of Shinwar’s death.
Netanyahu said Israel would keep fighting until all the hostages were freed and it would keep control of Gaza long enough to ensure Hamas could not rearm — an effective occupation that could take months or even years. Continue fighting.
Israel opened its new front earlier this month War with HezbollahStepping up bombing in Lebanon and launching a ground campaign against Iran-backed militias after a year of cross-border firing.
“Our war is not over,” Netanyahu said in a speech about Sinwar’s death.
President Joe Biden said Shinwar’s death opens the way for “a political solution that provides a better future for Israelis and Palestinians.” He said he would speak with Netanyahu “to discuss a way to bring the hostages home to their families and end this war once and for all.”
Sinwar has been the leader of Hamas inside the Gaza Strip for many years. He was elevated to the group’s leadership in July after his predecessor Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an Israeli strike in the Iranian capital, Tehran.
In recent months, Israel has Removed a string of senior figures From Hamas and Hezbollah with airstrikes. Israel said the head of Hamas’s military wing, Mohamed Taif, was killed, but the group said he survived.
But in Sinwar’s case, the troops found him accidentally.
Israeli forces identified three Hamas fighters from building to building in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said. The soldiers tried to shoot them before they ran into a building.
The Israeli military released drone video showing Shinwar’s last moments: in a shell-ravaged room, a man sits on a chair, his face covered with a cloth, possibly to hide his identity. The video shows the man, with an injured arm, throwing a stick at the drone.
Hagari said the army then fired additional shells at the building, causing it to collapse and killing Sinwar. He said Sinwar had a bulletproof vest, grenades and 40,000 shekels ($10,707).
Some of Chinwar’s DNA was previously found in tunnels near where troops found the bodies of six hostages in late August, Hagari said. The army believes weeks of searches in the area prompted Chinwar to come out of hiding, he said.
Photographs circulating online showed the body of a man resembling Chinwar, dressed in military style, half-buried in the rubble of the destroyed building, with a head injury. The security official confirmed that the photos were taken by Israeli security officials at the scene. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.
Army said that 3 terrorists were killed in this attack. Police said one of them was identified as Sinwar through dental records, fingerprints and DNA tests. Sinwar was imprisoned by Israel from the late 1980s until 2011, during which he underwent treatment for brain cancer – providing Israeli authorities with detailed medical records.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told Hamas fighters, “It’s time to go out, release the hostages, raise your hands and surrender.”
Netanyahu said Israel had “settled its account” with the person behind the October 7 attack and “dealt evil a heavy blow”. But, he added, “the task before us is not yet complete.”
Anyone who surrenders weapons to Hamas and helps return hostages will be allowed to leave Gaza safely, he said. A third of those still held captive in Gaza are believed to be dead.
Hundreds of people demonstrated in Tel Aviv on Thursday night to demand the release of the hostages after news of Sinwar’s death broke. Some carried placards reading “End of Chinwar, End of War”.
A relative of Ifat Calderon, who is being held hostage in Gaza, said he was glad Sinwar was dead but “scared for the 101 hostages. They could kill them or something because of Chinwar’s murder.
In the central Gaza city of Deir al-Bala, a Palestinian woman displaced from her home in the north said she hoped Shinwar’s death would mark an end to Israel’s campaign. “What other goals do they have than that? enough We want to go back,” said the woman, Umm Mohammed.
Some hailed Shinwar as a symbol of resistance against Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinians in the West Bank. Ahmad Hamduna, who fled his home in northern Gaza, said Hamas could replace him. “A thousand leaders will come after a leader. A thousand people will come after man.”
More than a week. Israeli forces have launched a ground campaign as they battle Hamas militants, who are once again massing in the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza.
On Thursday, an Israeli strike hit a school housing displaced Palestinians in Jabalia, killing at least 28 people, according to Gaza’s health ministry. A woman and four children were among the dead, said Fares Abu Hamza, head of the Gaza Health Ministry’s emergency department in the north.
Israel’s military said it targeted a command center run by Hamas and Islamic Jihad inside the school. It provided a list of about a dozen people identified as militants who were present when the strike was called. The names could not be immediately verified.
Israel has repeatedly attacked tent camps and schools sheltering displaced people in Gaza. The Israeli army conducts precision strikes on militants and tries to avoid harming civilians, but its attacks often kill women and children.
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Sami Magdy reports from Cairo. AP writers Jack Jeffrey in Jerusalem and Karim Sehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.
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