Identified “on the basis of photos of his teeth”: the new leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinouar, announced dead by the Israeli authorities

“According to the Forensic Identification Division of the Israeli Police, the body of Yahya Sinouar was identified “based on photos of his teeth”. Additional identification tests are underway,” reported this Thursday 17 October Bfmtv, after the Israeli security cabinet was informed that the new Hamas leader was “very likely” dead.

Israeli public television channel KAN, as well as news channel N12, announced the death of the Palestinian official, citing Israeli officials.

The Israeli army had previously indicated that it was verifying information according to which Yahya Sinouar was killed during an operation in the Gaza Strip.

Analyses ADN

This operation, specifies the IDF in a press release, targeted three members of the Palestinian movement. “At this stage, the identity of the terrorists is not confirmed,” it read. The three “targets” were in a building which, it seems, did not house any hostages, adds the army.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said his country “will reach every terrorist and eliminate them”, shortly after the army announced it would check whether Yahya Sinouar had been killed.

According to Israeli military radio, the three men were killed during a ground operation in Rafah, in the south of the Palestinian enclave, and their bodies taken away by the military. One of them would correspond to the physical description of Yahya Sinouar; DNA analyzes were underway.

The Israeli authorities have DNA fingerprints of the Palestinian leader, imprisoned for many years in Israel before being released in 2011 as part of a detainee exchange.

Yahya Sinouar, 61, considered the mastermind of the deadly attacks of October 7, 2023 against northern Israel, succeeded in August as head of Hamas from Ismaïl Haniyeh, killed in Tehran on July 31 in an explosion blamed on Israel. Hamas had no immediate comment.