Israeli military says it is investigating possibility Hamas leader Sinwar was killed

By Reuters

JERUSALEM, Oct 17 (Reuters) – Israel’s military said on Thursday it was looking into the possibility that it killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar after an operation in the Gaza Strip that it said had to target three militants.

“At this stage, the identity of the terrorists cannot be confirmed,” he said in a statement.
He said there was no indication that Israeli hostages had been present in the building where the three militants were killed.

There was no immediate comment from Hamas.

If confirmed, Sinwar’s death would represent a major boost for the Israeli military and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after a series of high-profile assassinations of prominent leaders of its enemies in recent months.

Sinwar, the chief architect of the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war, has been at the top of Israel’s most wanted list ever since. But it has so far eluded detection, possibly hiding in the maze of tunnels that Hamas has built under Gaza over the past two decades.

Formerly the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, he was appointed as the overall leader after the assassination of former political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in August.

Israel also killed Hasan Nasrallah, the leader of the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, in Beirut last month, as well as many of the top leaders of the group’s military wing.

Gunmen led by Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages in Gaza. Israel’s campaign in response has killed more than 42,000 people, reduced much of Gaza to rubble and displaced most of its population.