The Times of Israel newspaper said that new details emerged about the clash that led to the killing of Hamas leader, Yahya Al-Sinwar, in the Tal Al-Sultan neighborhood in the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.
The newspaper reported that a soldier from the 450th Battalion of the Bislamakh Brigade noticed at 10 a.m. on Wednesday a suspicious figure entering and exiting a building and informed the battalion commander, who ordered the forces to open fire on the building.
At around 3:00 pm on Wednesday, a drone saw three people leaving the building, trying to move from one house to another. Two people moved in front, paving the way for the third.
The Israeli army opened fire again, wounding the three. Two of them went to a building while the third, Al-Sanwar, went to a separate building.
Israeli army tanks and other forces opened fire on both buildings, then Sinwar climbed to the second floor, and a tank fired another shell at the building, and an infantry platoon moved to inspect.
According to the Times of Israel, Sinwar threw two hand grenades, one of which exploded.
The soldiers withdrew and a quadcopter drone flew to search the room. I found a man (Al-Sanwar) with an injured arm and a masked face. He threw a wooden stick at the drone without hitting it. Another tank fired a shell at the man, killing him.
On Thursday morning, the soldiers who entered to search the building looked at the face of the dead man, which was monitored by the drone, and noticed that he looked like a sinwar.
The Shin Bet took DNA and fingerprints in order to verify his identity. There were no hostages with Sinwar at that time.
A DNA sample from the body was sent to the Forensic Medicine Institute, and dental images were sent to the Police Forensic Unit. The DNA sample was compared to a sample from Sinwar that was collected while he was in an Israeli prison, so that his identity could be verified and Israel would officially announce his death.
On Thursday, the Israeli army broadcast video footage that it said showed Sinwar’s last moments before his death.
Israeli media outlets, including Haaretz and The Times of Israel, reported that money, identity documents, and combat equipment were found on the bodies of Hamas members. The forces that confronted the elements in the area were not preparing for a targeted killing operation and did not have prior intelligence information indicating that Sinwar was there.
The army and the Shin Bet security service have killed several senior Hamas members in recent months. These include Muhammad al-Deif, the group’s military commander whose death has not yet been confirmed by Hamas, Marwan Issa, Deif’s deputy, Rafi Salama, commander of the Hama-affiliated Khan Yunis Brigade, Ayman Nofal, commander of the Central Gaza Brigade, and Ahmed Randoor, commander of the North Gaza Brigade.
