Israel says Yahya Sinwar, top Hamas leader in Gaza, has been brutally killed by the terrorist group

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday that a senior Hamas leader and long-time commander in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinwar, was killed by soldiers during an operation in the devastated Palestinian territory.

In a message the Israeli government said it shared with dozens of other foreign ministers around the world, Katz said Sinwar, “the mastermind of the massacre and brutality of October 7, was killed today by IDF soldiers.”

“This is a great military and moral victory for Israel and a victory for the free world in everything against the evil axis of Islamic extremists led by Iran,” Katz said in a statement, sent to CBS News by the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

The Israeli military said in a subsequent statement that Sinwar was killed “in an operation in the southern Gaza Strip” on Wednesday, without giving further details. Reports in Israeli media said hours before his death was confirmed that Sinwar was killed by soldiers on routine patrols near the southern Gaza city of Rafah. According to unconfirmed reports, the soldiers spotted several armed men and opened fire on them, only to realize that Sinwar was among the dead.

US Representative Mike Turner, who is the chairman of the US House Select Committee on Intelligence, said in a statement that “justice has been served to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar,” adding that he hopes his assassination “will lead to further progress on the release of all hostages still being held in Gaza, and a cease-fire on Palestinians.” who have been persecuted by Hamas for a very long time.”

A photo circulating on social media shows a man who looks like a Hamas commander lying dead on top of the rubble with a head wound, but CBS News could not immediately confirm the photo. Sinwar has been one of the most wanted figures on Israel’s target list since Hamas launched it October 7, 2023 terrorist attack on the borderkilled about 1,200 people and captured another 251.

“In the building where the terrorists were eliminated, there were no signs of hostages in the area,” the IDF said earlier Thursday, referring to the operation that killed two men and Sinwar.

Who was Yahya Sinwar

Sinwar, 61, was accused by Israel of planning the terrorist attack on October 7. He has been hiding in Gaza since the massacre.

“Sinwar is a terrorist, a big terrorist, who planned and executed October 7 [massacre]where many innocent Israelis were killed – children, women and the elderly,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in a statement on Thursday. “Sinwar died beaten, persecuted and on the run – he did not die as a commander, but as someone who only cared for himself. This is a clear message to all our enemies – the IDF will reach out to anyone who tries to harm Israeli civilians or our security forces, and we will bring them to justice.”

Sinwar was named the general leader of Hamas in August, after the assassination of a former political official Ismail Haniyeh during his visit to Iran. Before that, he had led the group as its top commander in Gaza since 2017. He was considered a ruthless commander with close ties to Hamas’ main benefactor, Iran.

According to CBS News’ partner network, BBC News, Sinwar was born in Khan Younis, south of the Gaza Strip. His parents lived in Ashkelon, now in southern Israel, but were among the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced in the war that followed the establishment of Israel in 1948.

Speaking at a 2021 press conference in Gaza, after 10 days of violence between Hamas and Israel, Sinwar told international reporters that “the best gift is the leaders of the occupation. [Israel] what he gave me is killing me, because from childhood, I was brought up in a way that taught me to sacrifice my life for this country.”

“We are not lovers of killing and death, but we are people who need our rights to be returned to us,” he said. “If this is protected by popular opposition, non-violent and international diplomacy that is better, but if we are forced to use the most dangerous methods, then we are ready, and our people will not hesitate to use any methods to get their money. rights.”

Israel’s ongoing removal of Hamas leaders

The IDF has killed dozens of commanders and hundreds of fighters of Hamas, long designated a terrorist group by the US, Israel and many other countries, since Israel began its war in Gaza in retaliation on October 7. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted since the start of the war that no major Hamas figure would escape – and no one in a higher position in Gaza than Sinwar.

Haniyeh, who spent decades living in exile in Qatar, was no exception he was killed in the capital of Iran in late July after attending the inauguration of the country’s new president. Israel has not publicly claimed responsibility for the assassination in Tehran, but US officials told CBS News at the time that it was an Israeli strike.

Mohammed Deif, head of Hamas’s al-Qassam Brigades, was present he was killed in an airstrike in Gaza in July, according to the IDF.

“There is only one place for Yahya Sinwar, and it is next to Mohammed Deif and the other terrorists of October 7,” IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said in an interview this summer. “That’s the only time we prepare him and target him.”

Israel’s top coordinator for hostages and missing people told CBS News’ Elizabeth Palmer in September that the Israeli government prepared to give Sinwar and his family a safe passage out of Gaza if Hamas agreed to relinquish control of Gaza and allow the return of the remaining 101 hostages.

“It could be the end of the war, like [the hostages] he will recover,” Israeli negotiator Gal Hirsch told CBS News at the time. Sinwar did not issue a response to the Israeli proposal.

Families of Israeli captors react

Even before his death was confirmed by the IDF, the Israel Hostages Families Forum said in a statement that his killing was a success, but only the return of their loved ones can be considered a victory.

“The Hostages Families Forum commends the security forces for eliminating Sinwar, who initiated the biggest massacre our country has ever faced, responsible for killing thousands and abducting hundreds,” the group said. “However, we express great concern for the fate of the 101 men, women, elders and children still held hostage by Hamas in Gaza. We call on the government of Israel, world leaders and mediating countries to use the military success as a diplomatic tool for pursuing an immediate agreement on the release of all the hostages 101: the living to be rehabilitated and the dead to be properly buried.”

Of the 101 hostages still being held in Gaza, Israel’s intelligence service says 64 are still alive.

Sinwar’s killing was announced hours after more than a dozen Palestinians, including children, were killed in the area Israeli airstrike on a school in Jabalianorth of the Gaza Strip, which has been sheltering homeless people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-controlled Palestinian territory.

Haley Ott contributed to this report.