(Image source from: REUTERS)

The Israeli military said on Thursday that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed in a firefight in the southern Gaza Strip after he was chased "house to house" in a desperate attempt to avoid detection. Israel hailed the killing of 61-year-old Shinwar as one of the worst blows to Hamas since the group's Oct. 7, 2023 attack that sparked the Gaza war. The Israeli army announced in a statement that yesterday, Wednesday, October 16, 2024, after a year of persecution, Israeli army soldiers killed Yahya Sanwar, the leader of Hamas terrorists, in an operation in the Gaza Strip. Yahya Sinwar was wanted by the Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet's internal security agency last year, and dozens of operations have been carried out in the areas he left in recent weeks. His operational freedom of movement was restricted, which “led to his dismissal.” Israeli Army soldiers of the 828th Brigade (Bislech) operating in the area identified and killed three terrorists.

In a later statement, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Daniel Hagari said Mr. Sinwar was killed after he was found with two other militants in the Rafah area. “Emergency forces identified three terrorists who were running from house to house,” Hagari said at a news conference. The forces clashed with the group and Sinwar was forced to flee after being shot and scattered. Sinwar ran into a building alone and our forces were scanning the area with drones - which you can see in this video - Yahya Sinwar was shot in the hand and here he was shot in the face. But that's a branch of the drone he launched." Drone footage released by the military showed Sinwar alone in the apartment explosion, seriously injured in one hand and covered in a traditional headscarf. That in the last moments a drone approaches.

“We identified him as a terrorist from inside the building, opened fire on the building and searched the place. We found him with a gun and 40,000 shekels. He was on the run and our forces killed him." He added: "There are no hostages near the terrorists we destroyed and our forces are currently searching the area." Israel accuses Sinwar of being along with the Hamas military leader Mohammad Deif is believed to be the mastermind of the October 7 attack. The Israeli military said Def was killed in an attack earlier this year, but Palestinian groups have not confirmed this. In August, Sinwar replaced former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Iran on July 31. However, Israel did not comment on Haniyeh's death. According to official Israeli figures, Hamas attacks in Israel last year killed 1,206 people, most of them civilians, including hostages killed in captivity, according to an AFP report.

According to the Health Ministry of the Hamas Autonomous Region, Israel's retaliatory military strikes in the Gaza Strip have killed 42,438 people, most of them civilians. The United Nations recognizes this figure as reliable.