The Israeli military said on Thursday that it was checking the possibility that it has killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar following an operation in the Gaza Strip that it said had targeted three militants.

“At this stage, the identity of the terrorists cannot be confirmed,” it said in a statement.

It said there were no signs that Israeli hostages had been present in the building where the three militants were killed.

There was no immediate comment from Hamas.

If confirmed, the death of Sinwar would represent a major boost to the Israeli military and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after a string of high-profile assassinations of prominent leaders of its enemies in recent months.

Israel’s Army Radio said the incident had occurred during a targeted ground operation in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip during which Israeli troops killed three militants and took their bodies.

It said visual evidence suggested it was likely that one of the men was Sinwar and DNA tests were being conducted. Israel has samples of Sinwar’s DNA from his period in an Israeli jail.

Yahya Sinwar, the chief architect of the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war, has been at the top of Israel’s wanted list ever since. But he has so far eluded detection, possibly hiding in the warren of tunnels Hamas has built under Gaza over the past two decades.

Previously leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, he was named as its overall leader following the assassination of former political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in August.

Israel also killed Hasan Nasrallah, leader of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement, in Beirut last month as well as much of the top leadership of the group’s military wing.

Hamas-led gunmen attacked Israel on Oct 7, 2023 killing some 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages into Gaza. Israel’s campaign in response has killed more than 42,000 people, turned much of Gaza into rubble and displaced most of its population.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

In his first reaction after his father and former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique was shot dead last week, Bandra East MLA Zeeshan Siddique has said he and his family want justice. Mr Siddique also made an appeal that his father’s death should not be politicised and nor should it go in vain.

In a post on X on Thursday, Zeeshan Siddique wrote: “My father lost his life protecting and saving the lives and homes of poor innocent people. Today, my family is broken but his death must not be politicised and definitely not go in vain. I NEED JUSTICE, MY FAMILY NEEDS JUSTICE!”

Baba Siddique, 66, was shot dead by three men outside Zeeshan’s Bandra East office around 9.30 pm on Dussehra, October 13. Police had said six bullets were fired at him, four of which hit him and another hit an aide in the leg. Siddique was rushed to the Lilavati Hospital, where he was declared dead.

Two of the shooters, Gurmail Baljit Singh from Haryana and Dharamraj Kashyap from Uttar Pradesh, were arrested soon after the murder while Shiv Kumar Gautam, who is also from Uttar Pradesh, is on the run.

On Sunday, Kashyap had claimed in a Mumbai court that his age was 17 despite his Aadhar card stating that he was 19, and a bone ossification test had been ordered. On Monday, the results of the test proved that he is not a minor.

Police sources said the suspects have claimed that they work for gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, who is lodged in Gujarat’s Sabarmati jail, and the same claim was made in a social media post on Sunday. The Facebook post was made on the handle of one Shubuu Lonkar, believed to be Bishnoi gang associate Shubham Rameshwar Lonkar, claiming responsibility for the murder.

Police said the post was made by Lonkar’s brother, Pravin, who was arrested from Pune on Sunday evening. On Tuesday, another arrest was made in the case –  that of Harishkumar Balakram, 23, from Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh. Balakram worked as a scrap dealer in Pune and officials said he was part of the conspiracy to kill Baba Siddique.

The alleged handler of the three shooters, Mohammad Zeeshan Akhtar, is also on the run. 

Congress To NCP Switch

Baba Siddique, who was a three-time MLA from Bandra West, was associated with the Congress for 48 years. He had quit the party in February and joined Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Zeeshan Siddique was expelled from the Congress in August.

The NCP leader was murdered ahead of the Assembly elections in Maharashtra and the opposition has attacked the Eknath Shinde-led ruling BJP-NCP-Shiv Sena coalition over the law-and-order situation in the state.

After the killing, NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) President Sharad Pawar had said people in the government should take responsibility and step down from their posts. 

“The deteriorating law and order situation in the state is a matter of concern. It is sad that former state minister Baba Siddique was shot dead in the country’s financial capital, Mumbai. If the Home minister and the rulers will take the state’s vehicle forward with such leniency, it can be a warning sign for the common people. This not only needs to be investigated, the rulers need to accept responsibility and step down from their posts. My heartfelt tribute to Baba Siddique and condolences to his family,” he wrote in Marathi on X. 

Chief Minister Shinde said law and order had deteriorated under the alliance led by the opposition coalition, which is known as the Maha Vikas Aghadi, and promised that the people responsible for Siddique’s killing would not be spared.