Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Thursday that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed by Israeli military forces.
“The removal of Sinwar creates an opportunity for the immediate release of the hostages and the potential for change that could lead to a new reality in Gaza — without Hamas and without Iranian control,” he said in a statement, according to the NBC report.
Earlier the same day, the Israel Defense Forces said it was investigating the “possibility” that Sinwar was among three militants killed in operations in the Gaza Strip, whose identities could not be confirmed at the time.
“Troops operating in the region continue to operate with the necessary vigilance,” he added in a social media post. CNBC could not independently confirm the report.
In a social media update posted after the IDF communication, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant cited the biblical quote, “You will pursue your enemies and they will fall before you with the sword. – Leviticus 26,” according to NBC’s translation.
He added, “Our enemies cannot hide. We will chase and eliminate them.”
National Security spokesman John Kirby said Washington was aware of reports that Sinwar may have been killed, but US officials had not independently verified them, according to NBC News. When this news broke, US President Joe Biden was on his way to Germany to meet with his allies for talks on Ukraine and the Middle East.
Previously the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Sinwar took over overall command of the Iran-backed organization in August, following the assassination of former political leader Ismail Haniyeh. If true, his death would mark the most horrific blow Israel has dealt to Hamas in the year-long conflict sparked by the Palestinian militant group’s Oct. 7 terror attack on the Jewish state, which Israel accuses of being engineered by Sinwar.
The attacks prompted the Israeli government under Benjamin Netanyahu to launch retaliatory operations in the Gaza Strip in an attempt to dismantle the military capabilities and leadership of Palestinian groups.
More than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since October 7, according to the local Health Ministry, while 101 people kidnapped from Israel are believed to still be Hamas hostages in the enclave. The Hostage Families Forum, which represents the families of the captives, welcomed Thursday’s news on social media, but urged the Israeli government to use this opportunity as a tool to ensure the return of the hostages.
The war in the Gaza Strip has expanded to include direct hostilities between Israel and Iran, as well as clashes between the Jewish state and other Tehran-backed factions, such as the Houthi group in Yemen and the Hezbollah group in Lebanon – whose leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed last month by Israel. troops in an airstrike in Beirut.
The market has been mired in the Middle East conflict, which now poses a major risk to oil supplies if Israel retaliates against Iran’s latest hostility with attacks targeting Tehran’s energy infrastructure and export facilities.
Houthi maritime attacks on ships they claim are linked to Israel, the US or the UK – which have also been carried out against unaffiliated ships – have disrupted key commercial routes in the Red Sea linking the Asia-Pacific and the Mediterranean.
Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip
Sinwar was born in a refugee camp in the Gaza enclave and spent at least 22 years of his adult life in Israeli prisons. He was sentenced to life in prison in 1989 for directing the murder of two Israeli soldiers and four Palestinians he believed to be collaborators, and has become known as the “Butcher of Khan Yunis” for hunting down Palestinians he suspected of being collaborators. cooperate with Israel.
But he was released early, in a highly controversial prisoner exchange in 2011 that saw more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners exchanged for an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, who had been kidnapped by Hamas five years earlier.
Sinwar later said in interviews that he used his time in prison to learn to speak, read and write Hebrew, and to understand the psychology and behavior of his Israeli captors. In 2015 he was designated a terrorist by the US government.
The International Criminal Court in May said it applied for arrest warrants for Sinwar and Haniyeh for war crimes and crimes against humanity. They simultaneously applied for arrest warrants for war crimes and crimes against humanity for Netanyahu and Gallant.
It is unclear who will replace Sinwar as Hamas leader, if his killing is confirmed, and what impact his death will have on the stalled ceasefire negotiations.
