Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar was killed in an intelligence-based ground raid in southern Gaza. Sinwar was the politburo chief of the Palestinian group, Hamas. The 828 Brigade of the Israel Ground Forces (IDF) was operating in the Tel al-Sultan area of Rafah, where during scans they found the Hamas chief’s body. CNN reported that Israeli troops cut off his fingers to confirm his death.

The report says that Israeli troops entered the hideout and found a body resembling Yahya Sinwar’s. They cut his finger off for a DNA confirmation with a profile the troops had when Sinwar was in Israeli prison for two decades until his release in 2011 in a prisoner-swap deal. 

CNN quoted Chen Kugel, chief pathologist at Israel National Center of Forensic Medicine, as saying, “After the laboratory made the profile, we compared it with the profile that Sinwar had in the term that he was serving here as a prisoner, so then we could finally identify him by his DNA.”

Kugel told CNN that the troops first tried to identify him with his teeth but that wasn’t “certified enough”. 

Videos of Israeli troops searching the hideout surfaced on social media. In one of the videos, two Israeli soldiers are standing next to a body (claimed to be Yahya Sinwar’s) with the index finger of the left hand being chopped off. Meanwhile, CNN in its report said they analysed videos which showed his left hand with all five fingers, and then later with one finger missing.

The chief pathologist who autopsied the body of Yahya Sinwar told CNN that Sinwar was killed by a gunshot wound to the head. 

He told CNN that the Hamas leader suffered other injuries, including from a tank shell, but he was confident a bullet to the head was what had killed the Hamas leader. A video assessed by NDTV on social media showed injuries to Yahya’s face and part of his skull blown off, corroborating with claims made by the chief pathologist in the CNN report

Israeli troops fired a tank round on the hideout before conducting a ground raid for damage assessment and search for any survivors.

Hamas Looking For A New Leader

Hamas is looking for a new political leader based outside Gaza. At the same time, his brother – Mohammad Sinwar – is expected to assume a bigger role in directing the war against Israel in the region.

Yahya Sinwar was the mastermind of the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel in which over 1,200 people were killed, resulting in a year-long Israeli operation in Gaza, killing over 40,000. 

Israel vowed to uproot Hamas from Gaza and has so far eliminated most of its top leadership, including its previous chief Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in July.

Hamas has a history of quickly and efficiently replacing its fallen leaders, with its top decision-making body, the Shura Council, tasked with naming a new head.

While Hamas had a separate military and political wing, after Sinwar took over as the politburo chief following Haniyeh’s death, he fused the two wings. 

After Sinwar’s death, Israel now hopes the hostages still stuck in Gaza would be returned. Sinwar’s deputy Khalil Al-Hayya, who is viewed as a potential successor, struck a defiant note, saying hostages would not be returned until Israeli troops withdrew from Gaza and the war ended.

Even as the number of arrests in NCP leader Baba Siddique’s murder case went up to nine, his MLA son Zeeshan Siddique on Friday shared a cryptic post on social media platform X.

Not all that is hidden sleeps,
Nor all that is visible speaks.

— Zeeshan Siddique (@zeeshan_iyc) October 18, 2024

On the same day, Zeeshan Siddique met Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who also holds the home portfolio in the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government, and was apprised of the police probe so far into the murder of his father.

Earlier on Thursday, Zeeshan Siddique had demanded justice for his family, while also appealing that his father’s death should not be politicised and nor should it go in vain.

Baba Siddique was gunned down near Zeeshan Siddique’s office in Nirmal Nagar in Mumbai’s Bandra area on October 12. Nine persons have been arrested in the case so far, including five held on Friday after raids in Panvel and Karjat in neighbouring Raigad district.

Meanwhile, a shooter of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang claimed Baba Siddique was not a good man and had connections with India’s most-wanted criminal Dawood Ibrahim. 

Yogesh alias Raju (26), who is associated with the Lawrence Bishnoi-Hashim Baba gangs but not linked with Baba Siddique’s killing, said, “There were charges against him under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). It is said that he was associated with Dawood, the man behind the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts. When people get involved with such individuals, something is bound to happen. This is exactly what happened to Siddique,” Raju claimed.

As investigation into the case continues and security for actor Salman Khan was ramped up after the 66-year-old NCP leader’s murder, police in Mumbai received a threat message demanding Rs 5 crore from Mr Khan, claiming to resolve his conflict with imprisoned gangster Lawrence Bishnoi. The message also warned that if the demand is not met, “Salman Khan’s condition will be worse than Baba Siddique.”

An Israeli soldier involved in the operation that killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, detailed the minutes he spent alone with Sinwar’s body after the mission. Lt Col Itamar Eitam recounted how he found Sinwar, lying in a dilapidated chair, describing him as “a small, ugly, and broken figure.” 

“I just left Rafah. Not long ago, I looked him – Sinwar  – in the eyes. I had a few minutes alone with him, and I looked at him – a small, ugly, and broken figure, lying on a shattered couch,” Lt Col Eitam wrote. 

“So much pain this man caused,” he wrote. “I looked at the ruined city, and I even felt pain for them, but more than anything, I felt insulted-insulted on behalf of God. Because he, too, was once a baby and a child, and he had a choice, and he chose evil. He chose wickedness. What an insult that he was also a person created in Your image. How distorted. How much better the world is now. We won’t be confused, and we won’t give up. Together we will win. Happy holiday,” he added. 

The killing of Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind behind the deadly October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, is a significant blow to Hamas. Israeli military officials confirmed that Sinwar was found and killed during a routine patrol in Rafah, southern Gaza, without prior intelligence of his whereabouts.

According to Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari, the patrol stumbled upon three militants, including Sinwar, as they moved through Rafah. Sinwar, after splitting from his group, took cover in a building, only to be tracked by drones. Video footage showed him attempting a final act of defiance, throwing a stick at the drone moments before Israeli forces neutralized him.

Forensic analysis confirmed Sinwar’s identity, with an autopsy revealing a gunshot wound to the head. No hostages were found near him. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Sinwar’s death the potential “beginning of the end” of the war. However, families of hostages remain concerned, urging Israel to secure their release before any further escalation.

In the aftermath, Hamas acknowledged Sinwar’s death but vowed to continue its resistance, with the militant group stating his killing would only strengthen their resolve.