The Israel Protection Forces mentioned that the conflict in Gaza isn’t over following the killing of Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’ high chief and the mastermind of the terrorist group’s Oct. 7 assault, and can proceed till the hostages taken amid that day’s bloodbath are returned.
IDF Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari launched declassified footage displaying Sinwar hours earlier than the Oct. 7, 2023, assaults, in addition to his actions in Gaza as he fled over the previous 12 months. Hagari mentioned 101 hostages stay held in Gaza after a 12 months in captivity below “ruthless situations.”
“Killing Sinwar is the results of a 12 months of operational and intelligence efforts to carry him and different Hamas leaders to justice. Sinwar has been eradicated. However our mission isn’t over,” Hagari mentioned in a video assertion on Saturday. “We won’t relaxation till we carry all our hostages dwelling by any means potential. And we are going to proceed to defend the folks of Israel from all threats on all of our borders.”
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Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari speaks to the press from The Kirya, which homes the Israeli Ministry of Defence, in Tel Aviv on Oct. 18, 2023. (GIL COHEN-MAGEN/AFP through Getty Pictures)
Hours earlier than the Oct. 7 assaults, throughout which Hamas terrorists murdered roughly 1,200 Israelis and took a whole lot extra as hostages into Gaza, Sinwar was captured on video alone hiding his household and tools, together with beds, pillows, meals, water and a TV in an underground tunnel community, Hagari mentioned.
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Whereas Sinwar’s location was saved categorized whereas he ordered the assaults from the underground tunnels, “this was a luxurious that the folks of Gaza didn’t have as Sinwar at all times prioritized himself, his cash and the Hamas terrorists over the folks of Gaza,” Hagari mentioned. “Every step was deliberate to maximise hurt to Israeli and Gazan civilians and to attenuate hurt to himself and different terrorists.”
Banners with the {photograph} of Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas chief who was killed within the Israeli assault, are held on the streets in Tehran, Iran on Oct. 19, 2024. (Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu through Getty Pictures)
“All through the conflict that Sinwar began, he continued to cover beneath the folks of Gaza,” Hagari mentioned.
In February, Hagari mentioned Israeli troops discovered Sinwar’s underground hideout in Khan Yunis that included cash, meals, beds, paperwork, a bathe and a kitchen. IDF operations in Khan Yunis pressured Sinwar to flee to Rafah final month, Hagari mentioned.
Sinwar’s DNA was recovered on a bit of tissue “just a few hundred meters” from a tunnel the place six Israeli hostages have been executed in Rafah earlier than Sinwar fled once more, Hagari mentioned.
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“When Sinwar was operating for his life and went above the bottom, this was the primary and final time that he encountered Israeli troopers in fight,” Hagari mentioned. “Sinwar was eradicated by the IDF in Rafah final Wednesday. I wish to emphasize it once more: This was the primary and final time he encountered Israeli troopers, and he was eradicated. There have been no hostages with Sinwar when he was eradicated.”
