HAMAS terror boss Yahya Sinwar was taken out by a trainee squad of Israeli commanders after being left as the cowering final survivor of a gunfight.
Gaza’s Bin Laden, 62, had his last humiliating moments sat slumped over in an armchair in a bombed-out building in the Strip as he tried to fight off an Israeli drone with a stick.
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar holding up a child wielding a gun
ReutersFootage released by the IDF claims to show a wounded Yahya Sinwar moments before he was killed in Gaza[/caption]
Pictures show Israeli troops gathered around the body believed to be Sinwar
RexSinwar addressing supporters during a rally marking Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day in 2023[/caption]
The October 7 mastermind had a target on his back for over a year as Israel‘s security service – backed by the US – spent more than a year scouring the country for him.
But Sinwar has now been wiped out by a unit of three trainee squad commanders after they unexpectedly stumbled across him, Israeli officials told The New York Times.
The trio was conducting an operation in the Tal El Sultan area of southern Gaza on Wednesday, where they believed to be a hideout for senior Hamas leaders.
They then came upon a small number of Hamas fighters, who were spotted moving between buildings.
The soldiers, supported by drones, engaged in a gunfight, killing three Palestinian terrorists.
But Sinwar – by then still unrecognisable with a scarf over his face – managed to escape into a ruined building.
Israeli fire during the conflict partially collapsed a building where the militants had sought shelter, officials told the American paper.
After the dust settled and they started looking through the building, the Israeli forces saw that one of the dead remarkably resembled the Hamas terror leader.
He was discovered by the troops armed with a flak jacket, 40,000 shekels ($10,731.63), and a firearm.
“He tried to escape and our forces eliminated him,” Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said during a televised briefing.
Footage showed the bombed-out building in Rafah
The IDF circled Sinwar in the footage taken moments before he died
RexIsrael’s military chief Herzi Halevi (C) makes an inspection near the site where Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed in the Gaza Strip[/caption]
Sinwar and several of his bodyguards are said to have recently left from a neighbouring tunnel and were attempting to gather supplies for an extended stay when they were discovered by Israeli soldiers.
It felt like an odd place to find him.
Israeli and American security services had long concluded that Sinwar, fearing for his own life, had been tunnelling beneath the surface and surrounding himself with Israeli hostages in order to avoid being killed.
Astonishing drone footage captured the terror leader‘s humiliating final stand before Israeli troops killed him.
And photographs obtained by The New York Times, some of which later appeared online, show the body of a man bearing a strong resemblance to Yahya Sinwar.
The man’s body had several severe wounds, including to the head and leg.
The images revealed several features consistent with Sinwar’s appearance in archival footage, such as distinctive moles near his eyes and crooked teeth.
Hours after the fighting ended, soldiers cautiously approached the bodies, aware that the area was still scattered with explosives, according to the officials.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks about Sinwar’s assassination
AFPPeople hold placards in Jerusalem as they celebrate after the Israeli military confirmed the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar[/caption]
GettyA protester holds a sign during a demonstration calling for an hostages deal in Tel Aviv on Thursday[/caption]
They also suspected that the body later identified as Sinwar might be booby-trapped.
One official, who shared photos from the scene, said the soldiers found money and weapons alongside the Hamas terrorists.
Some of the images showed these items on display.
The troops were also concerned about the possibility of hostages being in the area, but none were found among the fighters, according to one official.
The Israeli military said there was no evidence that any hostages still held in Gaza were harmed during the battle.
On Thursday evening, after completing the identification process, the Israeli military confirmed Sinwar’s long-awaited death.
The Pentagon said American forces had no role in the killing.
Spokesperson Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder said: “This was an Israeli operation. There (were) no US forces directly involved”.
He said the US had contributed intelligence relating “to hostage recovery and the tracking and locating of Hamas leaders who have been responsible for holding hostages. And so certainly that contributes in general to the picture.”
Inside the twisted life of Yahya Sinwar
By Nick Parker, Foreign Editor
HIS life was saved twice by Israel – but the monster dubbed “The Hamas Bin Laden” repaid his sworn enemy by masterminding the October 7 horror.
Yahya Sinwar, 61, spent 22 years in an Israeli prison for terrorist murder and kidnap plots and spent every second honing his burning hatred for his captors.
His astonishing rise to the top of the Hamas terror tree came despite being sentenced to four life sentences in 1989 for planning the abduction and killing of two Israeli soldiers and the murder of four Palestinians he suspected of working with Israel.
The bearded beast’s life was first saved when he was cured of cancer by an operation in a prison.
Then in 2011 he was freed, among 1,026 others, in a prisoner exchange for a single Israeli soldier in a deal that has been damned by his thousands of victims ever since.
Sinwar taught himself Hebrew and became fluent during his multiple stints as a caged man.
He began reading and studying every Israeli newspaper to probe the weak spots in his enemy’s armour.
The terror master’s deep knowledge of what makes Israelis tick led him to realise the power of the hostage-taking tactic now traumatising the strife-torn Jewish nation.
Yet despite his blood lust and bravado, the Hamas commander “cried like a baby” when he learned he had cancer, his jailer Lieutenant Betty Lahat has revealed.