JERUSALEM, Oct 18 (Reuters) – A small Israeli drone tracks Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar as he lies dying in the ruins of a building in southern Gaza, collecting dust, according to a video released by Israeli authorities. It has been revealed that he was filmed collapsing into a chair. on Thursday.
As the drone hovered nearby, the video showed him throwing the stick in apparent desperation.
Israeli officials say the Israeli military that killed Sinwar after an intensive manhunt lasting more than a year did not initially realize after Wednesday’s gunfight that they had captured their country’s greatest enemy.
The military said on Thursday that intelligence services were gradually restricting Shinwar’s range of movement after dental records, fingerprints and DNA tests finally confirmed his death.
But unlike other militant leaders pursued and killed by Israel, including Hamas military commander Mohamed Deif, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on July 13, the operation that ultimately killed Shinwar was not a planned and targeted attack, nor was it an operation carried out by an elite. command squad.Instead, officials said he was discovered by infantrymen from the Bislach brigade, a unit that typically trains future unit commanders. Soldiers were searching an area believed to be home to Hamas leaders in southern Gaza’s Tar el-Sultan district on Wednesday.
Troops spotted three suspected militants moving between buildings and opened fire, leading to a gunfight during which Shinwar fled into an abandoned building.
Israeli media reported that tank shells and missiles were also fired at the building.
On Thursday, the military said it released footage from a small drone that showed Sinwar, with severe injuries to his hands, sitting in a chair with his face covered with a scarf. In the film, he is shown trying to throw a stick at the drone in a futile effort to knock it down.
Item 1/3 A person who the Israeli military claims is Hamas chief Shinwar is seen in Tal al-Sultan. This screenshot is from a video handout obtained on October 17, 2024. Israel Defense Forces/Handout via Reuters
(1/3) A person who the Israeli military claims is Hamas chief Shinwar is seen in Tal al-Sultan. This screenshot is from a handout video obtained on October 17, 2024. Israel Defense Forces/Distribution via Reuters, purchase license rights, open new tab
Israeli military spokesman Maj. Gen. Daniel Hagari said that at this stage, Shinwar had only been identified as a combatant, but troops moved in and captured Shinwar with weapons, a bulletproof vest and 40,000 shekels ($10,731.63). He said he had discovered it.
“He tried to escape, but our forces removed him,” he told reporters in a video conference.
Hamas itself has not commented, but Hamas officials said signs seen so far suggest that Sinwar was indeed killed by Israeli forces.
“Dozens of operations carried out by the Israel Defense Forces and ISA in areas where he was removed last year led to Yahya Sinwar being chased and removed by the military, limiting his operational movements.” . This was announced by the Israeli military in a statement.
In the last months of his life, Sinwar, the main architect of the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war, was known for his use of telephones and other communications equipment that enabled Israel’s powerful intelligence operations. seems to have stopped. to track him down.
Israeli officials have said they believe the suspect is hiding in one of the vast network of tunnels that Hamas has dug beneath the Gaza Strip over the past two decades, but the tunnels excavated by Israeli forces are are on the rise, so there is no guarantee that they will be able to escape capture, even in tunnels.
Lieutenant General Helzi Halevi, the head of Israel’s military, said Israel had been tracking Shinwar for the past year and he “acted like a fugitive, changing locations many times.”
Knowing that Mr. Shinwar was a ruthless and dedicated enemy, Israeli officials used him as a human shield to protect against Israeli attacks, including Israelis still held in Gaza and There had been long-standing concerns that the suspect was surrounded by some of the 101 foreign hostages.
But when he was finally trapped on Wednesday, with no hostages found nearby, Mr. Hagari was in a tunnel several hundred meters from where six Israeli hostages were executed by Hamas in late August. It said there was a sample of his DNA inside.
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Editing: Leslie Adler and Raju Gopalakrishnan
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