Large amounts of cash, an UNRWA ID card and various weapons were discovered alongside the bodies of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and senior terrorists killed with him in Rafah’s Tel Sultan neighborhood, the IDF confirmed Thursday. Also found at the scene were Mentos candies.
The IDF officially confirmed Sinwar’s killing after his body was identified. In the statement, the IDF said, "Sinwar orchestrated the October 7 massacre and promoted his murderous ideology both before and during the war, making him responsible for the murder and abduction of many Israelis."
According to the IDF and Shin Bet, Sinwar had been hiding for a year among Gaza’s civilian population, both above ground and in Hamas tunnels. Numerous operations by the IDF and Shin Bet over the past year, particularly in the weeks leading up to his death, restricted his movements and eventually led to his elimination.
Unlike other high-profile assassinations during Operation Iron Swords, such as those of Mohammed Deif and Hassan Nasrallah, Sinwar’s killing resulted from an unplanned encounter. Soldiers from the Infantry Commanders and Combat Training School (Bislach), conducting a counterterrorism sweep, identified and killed three terrorists in a booby-trapped building, unaware that one of them was Sinwar.
Ynet military analyst Ron Ben-Yishai reported that Shin Bet had insisted the IDF continue operations in Tel Sultan, suspecting Hamas leaders might be present, sometimes even above ground. An earlier airstrike had targeted a tunnel in the area where the IDF believed Sinwar was hiding, but he was not found there.
The bodies of the terrorists were first examined using drones due to the presence of explosives. One body resembled Sinwar, leading soldiers to suspect they had killed the Hamas leader by chance.
To confirm Sinwar’s identity, soldiers took photographs of the body, which were sent to the police forensic unit. As first reported by Ynet, Sinwar’s identity was confirmed through dental records, with fingerprint analysis later corroborating the identification.
Another key indicator of Sinwar’s presence was the identity of one of the terrorists killed alongside him, who was known to be close to the Hamas leader.
Sinwar's body retrieved from Gaza
According to reports from Gaza, the two other terrorists killed were Sinwar’s bodyguards, one of whom was also a teacher for UNRWA, while the other was a senior official in Hamas' National Security Office.
It was later reported that one of the terrorists might have been Muhammad Shabana, the commander of Hamas' Rafah Brigade.
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