Israel Death in the rubble of Gaza: How the Hamas chief was hunted down
Following the killing of the former Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, more and more details about Jihia al-Sinwar's final hours are coming to light.
19.10.2024, 05:54
SDA
According to the forensic expert responsible for the autopsy, the mastermind of the massacre carried out in Israel on October 7 last year was shot in the head. "The cause of death is a gunshot wound to the head," Chen Kugel, the senior pathologist at the National Center for Forensics in Tel Aviv, told the US television station CNN.
Shortly before the fatal shooting of probably the most wanted terrorist in the Middle East, Israeli soldiers had observed three men moving from building to building in the city of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, as reported by the newspaper "The New York Times", citing security circles in Israel and the USA. After a firefight in which an Israeli soldier was seriously wounded, one of the men fled into an adjacent building.
Sniper is said to have killed Sinwar
The Israeli military then piloted a drone into the building and discovered a hooded man covered in dust on a sofa, who threw a stick at the remote-controlled aircraft. As it only turned out later, it was Sinwar. A sniper then shot him in the head and an Israeli tank fired on the building, reported the New York Times.
For fear of booby traps, the troops did not advance into the house until after sunrise the following day. There they finally found a body that strongly resembled Sinwar. "He had several injuries: a wound from a rocket on his right forearm, injuries from fallen masonry on his left leg and a lot of shrapnel in his chest. They caused serious injuries, but the cause of death is the gunshot wound to the head," said forensic scientist Kugel.
Identity confirmed by DNA test
The pathologist explained that one of the deceased's fingers had been cut off in order to establish his identity by means of a DNA test. "After the laboratory had created a genetic profile, we compared it with the profile we still had of Sinwar from his time as a prisoner. We were then able to identify him from his DNA."
Known as the "Butcher of Khan Yunis" because of his brutal treatment of political opponents, the Islamist was once sentenced to a long prison term for the murder of four suspected collaborators and two Israeli soldiers and served over 20 years in Israeli custody. In 2011, he was released as one of more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit, who was held in Gaza.
Sinwar's body as "bargaining chip" for hostage deal
According to media reports, Sinwar's body is in a secret location in Israel. His mortal remains could be used as a "bargaining chip" in talks about the release of hostages held by Hamas, CNN reported, citing Israeli diplomatic circles. "If Hamas wants to swap his body for Israelis, dead or alive, then so be it," a person familiar with the matter was quoted as saying. Without such a deal, the body will not be transferred to Gaza. There are concerns in Israel that Sinwar's grave could become a place of pilgrimage for his followers in the coastal area, which has been sealed off by Israel and destroyed in the war.
Sinwar's bodyguard also killed
Shortly after Sinwar, Israeli soldiers also killed the Hamas leader's bodyguard, Mahmoud Hamdan, according to military sources. The commander of the Hamas battalion in Rafah's Tal al-Sultan district died just 200 meters away from where Sinwar lost his life. Hamdan had also been responsible for guarding the six Israeli hostages who were murdered by his men in August.
The hunt for the Hamas chief
Immediately after the bloody attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, in which Islamist terrorists killed more than 1,200 people and abducted another 250 in the Gaza Strip, Israel's armed forces and intelligence services opened the hunt for Sinwar, the chief planner. But he did not make it easy for them. According to security experts, he spent a long time in the extensive tunnel system under the Gaza Strip, surrounded by hostages. According to them, he did without cell phones and computers and communicated with his fighters exclusively via messengers so as not to give away his whereabouts.
After the Israeli armed forces recovered the bodies of the six hostages killed in a tunnel at the end of August, they were able to detect Sinwar's urine in the underground complex using DNA tests, according to the "New York Times" report. After that, the noose tightened ever tighter. The secret services repeatedly observed hooded figures in the Tal al-Sultan district, apparently accompanied by bodyguards - an indication that they were probably prominent figures from Hamas.
In the end, however, there was also a bit of luck involved. According to the New York Times, the military patrol that finally caught Sinwar was actually only in the area to gather more clues. They then succeeded in striking one of the most important blows against Hamas since the beginning of the Gaza war.
