Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar may have been killed – report

IDF intelligence reportedly probing possibility that Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas chief and mastermind of the October 7th invasion, may be dead.

By World Israel News Staff

Israel’s military is currently investigating whether Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar has died, according to multiple reports carried by Hebrew media outlets late Sunday night and early Monday morning.

Sinwar, the mastermind of the October 7th invasion of Israel and massacre of some 1,200 people in southwestern Israel, has not been heard from recently, leading some in the Israeli intelligence community to speculate that the leader of the terrorist group’s forces in Gaza and, since August, head of the organization’s politburo, may have died in an IDF airstrike several months ago.

The IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate is taking seriously the possibility that Sinwar was in fact killed when Israeli warplanes bombed a tunnel where the terrorist leader was suspected to be hiding, Kan, Ma’ariv, Walla, and Ha’aretz all reported.

No details were provided, however, regarding the strike in question.

No clear evidence has yet been found indicating Sinwar has died, army sources cited by the reports emphasized, and the Hamas chief’s possible death remains entirely speculative at this point.

According to a report by The Jerusalem Post, there is no consensus within Israel’s intelligence community as to the likelihood of Sinwar having been killed or the significance of his recent months-long silence.

Senior IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Monday morning that he had no clear information to confirm either that Sinwar was killed or is still alive.

“I cannot confirm, and cannot deny” said Hagari. “I do not have information that he is dead.”

This is not the first time security officials have speculated regarding Sinwar’s possible death.

Multiple rumors were floated and leaked to the press last December after a lull in communications by the Hamas leader.

In contrast to Israel’s military intelligence establishment, the Shin Bet – the Jewish state’s internal security agency and the country’s primary counter-terror security service – is largely skeptical of the possibility Sinwar was killed in the airstrike in question, with the agency presuming Sinwar is still alive.

HamasIDFYahya Sinwar