Hamas leader dead: Yahya Sinwar, mastermind of October 7 attacks, killed by IDF

The architect of the October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in 1200 deaths and 250 hostages taken into Gaza, has been killed by Israel’s military.

World leaders including Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Joe Biden hope the death of Yahya Sinwar could be the turning point in the war.

Here’s a recap of what we know so far:

• During an Israel Defence Forces (IDF) operation in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday, the Israeli military killed three Hamas operatives. DNA testing has subsequently confirmed one of the men killed was Yahya Sinwar, the political leader of Hamas in Gaza.
• Sinwar was the mastermind behind the October 7 attack, and the killing is considered a success for Israel.
• It was a squad of trainee commanders who found and killed Sinwar.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sinwar’s death would not mean an immediate end to the war, saying “our task has still not been completed”.
• Biden said the killing marked a good day for Israel, the US, and the world. Biden said Hamas was no longer capable of committing an October 7 level attack.
• The IDF claims drone footage captured Sinwar in the moments before his death.

You can read the full story here.

The killing of Hamas’ chief Yahya Sinwar may not exactly have come about “by chance” or “by coincidence” as per some reports, given Israel had vowed to destroy Hamas when it declared war on the proscribed terrorist organisation on October 8, 2024, but it came as a surprise to those directly involved.

The New York Times reports the “Butcher of Khan Younis”, one of Israel’s most wanted, was, in the end, killed by a group of military trainees on a reconnaissance trip.

Four Israeli Defence officials, told the Times on the condition of anonymity, that a unit of trainee squad commanders was on patrol in southern Gaza on Wednesday when they came upon a small group of fighters, the officials said. The soldiers – backed by drones – engaged in a firefight, and three Palestinian militants were killed.

It was only hours after the fight was over that the soldiers approached the bodies cautiously, because one of them was thought to have been booby-trapped, that they noticed one of the bodies bore a shocking resemblance to the Hamas leader.

Read the full story here.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin has some strong words for Hamas after Yahya Sinwar’s death.

The Jewish leader said Sinwar’s plan on October 7 was to leave Israel crippled – politically, economically and militarily.

Today, Sinwar and virtually all of Hamas’s leaders are dead. Hamas is reduced to small batches of terrorists incapable of waging war or ruling Gaza. Only Hezbollah materially joined the Hamas war and its leader is also dead.

“Israel on the other hand is not only intact but enjoys a greater advantage over its enemies than at any point in its history. Peace with Egypt, Jordan and the Abraham Accord states holds. The US alliance holds. The Palestinian movement in the West has been exposed as a regressive, anti-Western malignancy. Iran is isolated except for its band of pantomime pirates in Yemen.

“In destroying Hamas and showing that terrorism will be met with power and not political capitulation, Israel has transformed regional dynamics and created the conditions for long-term peace.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong says the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is an “opportunity for this war to end”.

Speaking to the media in Adelaide, Wong called Sinwar a “terrorist who caused untold suffering to so many people”.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong.Credit: Penny Stephens

“His violence culminated in the worst loss of Jewish life in a single day since the Holocaust,” she said.

“His death is an opportunity for this war to end.”

Echoing Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Wong renewed the government’s call for a ceasefire, the return of hostages and the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

“We all look to a day when Gaza is free from Hamas and we look to a day where both Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace and a two-state solution which ensures that both parties, both people can live in peace and security,” Wong concluded.

US President Joe Biden says he will send his secretary of state to Israel in the coming days to discuss a way forward after Yahya Sinwar’s death.

The New York Times reports that Antony Blinken will travel to Israel in the next four or five days.

US President Joe Biden arrives in Berlin for a NATO meeting.Credit: AP

After touching down in Berlin to meet leaders in Europe, Biden said he had spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to congratulate him on his military success.

“Now is the time to move on … move toward to a ceasefire in Gaza, make sure that we move in a direction that we’re going to be in a position to make things better for the whole world. It’s time for this war to end and bring these hostages home,” Biden said.

The Lebanon-based terrorist group Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, has announced a fresh “escalation” in its war with Israel.

In a statement released via the Hezbollah-backed media organisation Al-Ahed, the group claimed that Israel’s losses had now reached 55 dead and more than 500 wounded since Israel’s ground offensive began in Lebanon earlier this month.

“The Islamic Resistance Operations Room announces moving to a new and escalating phase in the confrontation with the ‘Israeli’ enemy, which will appear in the events of the coming days,” the statement said.

The US military said its forces had no role in the Israeli operation that killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, even if US intelligence has contributed to Israel’s understanding of Hamas leaders who took hostages last year.

“This was an Israeli operation. There [were] no US forces directly involved,” said Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesperson.

Footage the IDF claims shows Sinwar before his death.Credit: IDF

“The United States has helped contribute information and intelligence as it relates to hostage recovery and the tracking and locating of Hamas leaders who have been responsible for holding hostages. And so certainly that contributes in general to the picture.

“But again, this was an Israeli operation. And I would refer you to them to talk about the details of how the operation went down.”

His comment followed President Joe Biden’s statement on Sinwar’s death in which Biden said that after Hamas’ October 7, 2023, assault into Israel, he ordered US special operations and intelligence personnel to aid Israel’s hunt for Sinwar and other militant leaders.

Reuters

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the killing of Yahya Sinwar could be the turning point needed to reach peace in the Middle East.

In a statement on X, the PM renewed calls for a ceasefire and a permanent two-state solution.

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was a terrorist and the architect of the atrocities committed on October 7.

He was an enemy of the Israeli people and an enemy of peace-loving people everywhere. His death is a significant moment and can be a vital turning point in this devastating conflict.

Australia joins with the international community in renewing our call for the return of the hostages, urgent humanitarian support for civilians in Gaza and a ceasefire that will break the cycle of violence and put the region on the path to an enduring two-state solution.

Yahya Sinwar’s body was recovered by Israeli forces from a house in Rafah’s devastated Tel al-Sultan refugee camp, approximately 155 metres from active Israeli military positions, according to satellite imagery and visuals released on Thursday by the Israel Defence Forces and verified by The Washington Post.

Videos showed Sinwar’s body, bearing severe wounds to his head, an arm and a leg, being recovered from rubble inside the house. The Israeli military said Sinwar had been killed in a firefight with Israeli soldiers on Wednesday.

Jake Godin, a Bellingcat researcher, first geolocated the house.

A satellite image taken by Planet Labs on Wednesday showed Israeli military vehicles parked at an outpost dug out of earthen berms about 155 metres away. The military appears to have only created the outpost in late September. Video posted by a soldier on September 26 shows him driving past the house where Sinwar would later be killed and parking in the outpost.

Tel al-Sultan has been largely destroyed and depopulated since Israeli troops assaulted the camp in May and proceeded to occupy the area. In mid-September, the IDF said that it had dismantled Hamas’ Rafah Brigade over the previous four months of fighting.

The Washington Post

When news broke that the IDF had killed the mastermind behind the October 7 terror attack, Israelis celebrated.

These extraordinary pictures show the moment Israelis living near Kibbutz Erez in Israel’s south – just a kilometre north of the Gaza Strip – learnt Sinwar was dead.

News of the Hamas leader’s death was joyous to Israelis. Credit: AP

Israelis celebrate the death of Sinwar, near Kibbutz Erez in southern Israel.Credit: AP