Yahya Sinwar is Israel’s number one target in Gaza and was accused of having been responsible for organising and directing the 7 October attacks last year, when thousands of armed men broke through the Gaza fence, killing 1200 people and abducting more than 250 hostages back to Gaza.
Graphic images posted online show a figure resembling Sinwar lying in the rubble of a building in the aftermath of intense military activity with clearly fatal injuries.
It’s thought that tests – both physical and biometric – will be carried by the Israelis out to ascertain if it is indeed Yahya Sinwar.
If he has been killed, it would be a significant military success for Israel. Sinwar, 61, was released from an Israeli jail in 2011 as part of a prisoner swap and became a hard-line and hugely influential figure in Hamas who favoured armed confrontation with Israel over diplomatic initiatives.
It was assumed that Sinwar had been spending much of the war located in tunnels under Gaza, surrounded by a human shield of Israeli hostages, especially after he became Hamas’s overall leader following the assassination of Ismael Hanieyh.
But according to reports from the IDF, no hostages were found near the location – which may be significant.
His death would not bring about an immediate end to Israel’s war in Gaza but with continued Israeli military operations against Hamas across the Palestinian territory, in which hundreds of civilians have also been killed, it might bring the end of the war a little closer.BBC