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Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed in a fight with Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers that unfolded from October 16 to October 17. The IDF released new details on how the clash occurred, shedding light on the complex fighting in Gaza. In the wake of Sinwar’s killing, IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Herzi HaLevi said Israel had brought to justice the “master terrorist” who was behind the October 7 massacre.
Sinwar was eliminated in a battle with Israeli troops in the Tel al-Sultan area of Rafah in southern Gaza. The IDF had completed most of its offensive operations in Rafah in August after three months of fighting in which hundreds of terrorists from Hamas’s Rafah Brigade had been killed. The IDF transferred the 162nd Division from Rafah to fight in Jabaliya in October. Other forces, such as the 98th Division, also left Gaza to fight Hezbollah in Lebanon.
However, Israeli troops remaining in Rafah continued to comb the area for terrorists, working closely with the Israeli Security Agency (ISA), also known as Shin Bet. They were “operating in the southern Gaza Strip, following IDF and ISA intelligence that indicated the suspected locations of senior members of Hamas,” the IDF said on October 17. This operation came under the command of the Gaza Division once the 162nd had moved out to fight in Jabaliya. The IDF’s 828th Brigade and Israel’s Nahal Brigade were both involved in weeks of searches in areas of Rafah.
It was in this context that the 828th Brigade came upon Sinwar. The brigade, usually comprised of soldiers from an infantry training school, has fought in Gaza since 2023 in several operations from northern Gaza to Khan Younis and Rafah. “Troops from the 828th Brigade operating in the Tel al-Sultan area of Rafah identified several suspects in the area. The troops conducted scans, during which they encountered terrorists who fired at them and threw grenades,” the IDF said on October 18, explaining how the encounter with Sinwar unfolded.
The three terrorists split up. The infantrymen of the 828th were accompanied by armored support from the 460th Brigade, also a training brigade. “A Merkava Mark 4 tank shell fired by the 460th Brigade and a Matador missile” were used in the encounter against Sinwar and the two other terrorists, Ynet reported. The encounter began around 10 in the morning on October 16 and continued throughout the afternoon. A drone was sent to investigate and found one of the terrorists on the second floor of a building. The IDF fired on the building, which caused part of it to collapse, according to Ynet.
The next morning, on October 17, Israeli soldiers entered the building and found a body that was later determined to be Sinwar. As Israeli authorities confirmed his identity, Halevi and the head of the ISA, Ronen Bar, completed a situational assessment and went to the location where Sinwar had been killed. Major General Yaron Finkelman, the head of Southern Command, and Brigadier General Barak Hiram, the new head of the Gaza Division, joined them.
Israel Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant released a statement on the evening of October 17, saying the killing was a “clear message to the residents of Gaza. The man who brought disaster and death to the Gaza Strip … the end of this man has come. It is time to go out, release the hostages, [to those involved in fighting] raise your hands, surrender,” he said. Gallant also noted Israel’s commitment to returning the 101 hostages still held in Gaza. Israel refers to all of those who were taken and held by terrorists, deceased and alive, as hostages. Gallant’s office said that he referred to the “urgency and unique opportunity that has been created and called on remaining Hamas terrorists to cease fire and immediately release the hostages.”
The clash that led to the killing of Sinwar has been notable for the fact it involved regular IDF troops, rather than special forces. Two hundred meters from where Sinwar was killed, the IDF also eliminated Mahmoud Hamdan, the head of Hamas’s Tel al-Sultan Battalion. The IDF said on October 18 that it had previously assessed that Hamdan had been killed several weeks ago. Hamdan is believed to have been helping accompany Sinwar and had previously guarded six hostages who were found murdered in Rafah in late August.
This paints a picture of a month and a half in which Hamdan and Sinwar were moving around Tel al-Sultan or neighboring areas after the hostages were killed in a tunnel. It’s unclear how Sinwar exercised command and control over Hamas if he was confined to a location near Rafah during this period. When the latest battle unfolded, it did not appear Sinwar had a way to communicate with other Hamas members in different areas of Gaza, except by courier or word of mouth.
In northern Gaza, the IDF’s 162nd Division continues to operate against Hamas in the Jabaliya area. The IDF said that it found “weapons, explosives, ammunition, explosive bricks, and mortars in a school located in a civilian area.” The IDF said on October 18 that its Givati Brigade’s combat team has now joined the battle and that the IDF had eliminated “dozens of terrorists.”
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