Introduction: October

Israeli troops had for more than a year
hunted the leader of Hamas,
who disappeared in
Gaza soon after masterminding
the 7 October attacks.

Yahya Sinwar, 61,
was said to have spent much
of his time hiding in the
tunnels under the Strip,
along with a cadre of
bodyguards and a
“human shield” of hostages
seized from Israel.

But ultimately, it appears he met his end in a
chance encounter with an Israeli
patrol in southern Gaza.
His guard detail was small.
No hostages were found.

Details are still emerging,
but here’s what we know
so far about Sinwar’s killing.

Routine patrol

The Israel Defense Forces says a
unit from its 828th
Bislamach Brigade was patrolling
Tal al-Sultan, an area of Rafah,
on Wednesday.

Three fighters were
identified and engaged by the
Israeli troops –
and all were eliminated.

At that stage nothing seemed
particularly remarkable
about the firefight and the soldiers
did not return to the scene until
Thursday morning.

It was then, as the dead were inspected,
that one of the bodies was
found to bear a
striking resemblance to
the leader of Hamas.

The corpse however remained
at the site due to
suspected booby traps
and instead,
part of a finger was removed and
sent to Israel for testing.

His body was finally
extracted and brought to
Israel later that day as the area
was made safe.

Daniel Hagari, the
IDF’s spokesman,
said his forces
“didn’t know he was there
but we continued to operate”.

He said his troops had
identified the three men
running from house to house,
and engaged
them before they split up.

The man since identified as Sinwar
“ran alone into one of the buildings”
and was killed after being
located with a drone.

Sinwar’s body was found
with a flak jacket,
a gun and 40,000 shekels (£8,240).

None of the hostages
Sinwar was believed to be
using as a human shield were present and his
small retinue suggests either
he was trying to move unnoticed,
or had lost many of those protecting him.

Hagari also said the IDF had
gained an indication of
Sinwar’s previous movements
when they found his
DNA in a tunnel close to where
the bodies of six
hostages were recovered
around six weeks ago.

Israel is now searching for
Sinwar’s brother,
Muhammad Sinwar,
and all Hamas military
commanders, Hagari said.

Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defence
minister, said: “Sinwar died while beaten,
persecuted and on the run –
he didn’t die as a commander,
but as someone who only
cared for himself.
This is a clear message
to all of our enemies.”

Drone footage released by the
Israeli military late on
Thursday was said to show
Sinwar’s final moments
before he was killed.

The video appears to be shot
from a drone flying through the
open window of a mostly
destroyed building.

It approaches a man, with his head covered,
sitting in an armchair on the first
floor of a house that is littered with debris.

The man, who seems to be injured,
then throws
what appears to be a stick at the
drone and the video ends.

Sinwar ‘eliminated’

Israel first announced it was “investigating the possibility”
that Sinwar had been killed in Gaza on Thursday afternoon local time.

Within minutes of the announcement,
pictures posted to social media showed the body of a man with very similar features to the Hamas leader,
who had suffered catastrophic head wounds.
The images are too graphic to republish.

However, officials warned “at this stage”
the identity of any of the three men killed could not be confirmed.

Not long after that, Israeli sources told the BBC leaders were
“increasingly confident” they had killed him.
However, they said all necessary tests must be carried out before the death could be confirmed.

Those tests did not take long. By Thursday evening,
Israel had announced they had been completed and that Sinwar was confirmed “eliminated”.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said
“evil” had been “dealt a blow”,
but warned the Israeli war in Gaza had not been completed.

A tightening noose

While Sinwar was not killed during a targeted operation,
the IDF said that it had for weeks been operating in areas where intelligence indicated his presence.

In short, Israeli forces had narrowed Sinwar’s rough location to the southern city of Rafah,
and were slowly moving in to get him.

Sinwar had been on the run for more than a year.
He had undoubtedly felt the Israeli pressure growing as other Hamas leaders,
such as Mohammad Dief and Ismail Haniyeh, were killed,
and as Israel destroyed the infrastructure he had used to prosecute the atrocities of 7 October.

In a statement, the IDF said its operations in recent weeks in the south had
“restricted Yahya Sinwar’s operational movement as he was pursued by the forces and led to his elimination”.

Major goal, but not the end

Killing Sinwar was a major goal for Israel,
which marked him for death soon after the 7 October attacks.
But his end does not end the war in Gaza.

While Netanyahu said he had “settled the score”,
he insisted the war would continue –
not least to save the 101 hostages still held by Hamas.

“To the dear hostage families, I say:
this is an important moment in the war.
We will continue full force until all your loved ones, our loved ones, are home.”

In Israel, families of hostages said they hoped a
ceasefire could now be reached that would bring home the captives.