Israel Likely Has Killed Sinwar

[Kathianne]

Very good news indeed:

https://www.axios.com/2024/10/17/sinwar-hamas-israel-killed-gaza


Updated 32 mins ago -World
Israeli officials say Hamas leader Sinwar likely killed by IDF


Barak Ravid




Yahya Sinwar, head of the Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip, waves his hand to the crowd during the celebration of International Quds Day in Gaza City in 2023
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar at the celebration of International Quds Day in Gaza City on April 14, 2023. Photo: Yousef Masoud/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images


Israeli officials say Israel Defense Forces likely killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in an exchange of fire with soldiers in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday. His death hasn't been confirmed by the IDF and Hamas has not commented publicly on the reports.


Why it matters: Sinwar was the mastermind of the Oct. 7 terror attacks, which killed 1,200 people and set off Israel's year-long war against Hamas in Gaza. Israel has made killing him a key objective, and may be more willing to scale back its military operations in Gaza if he is dead.


Most of the people killed on Oct. 7 were civilians, including 43 Americans. 250 people were taken hostage, among them 12 Americans.
In the year since the terror attacks, Israel has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians in its assault on Gaza — most of them civilians, according to local health officials.
Driving the news: The IDF and the Shin Bet said in a statement that the incident took place on Wednesday night local time in southern Gaza Strip.


During a routine patrol by the IDF, the soldiers encountered three armed men. They exchanged fire and killed them.
Israeli officials said the soldiers saw that the face of one of the bodies resembled Sinwar, but his identity could not be immediately confirmed.
Israeli officials said the incident was coincidental and not based on intelligence.
State of play: The IDF and Shin Bet are still working on identifying the bodies and stressed there were no hostages involved in the incident — a message Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked the IDF to relay to hostage families, his spokesperson said.


The Israeli officials said they are still waiting for DNA and fingerprint confirmation. Israel has Sinwar's DNA and fingerprints from his time in prison.
While Israel has not confirmed Sinwar's death, Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant posted on X that "our enemies cannot hide. We will pursue and eliminate them."
Sinwar has been the Hamas leader in Gaza since 2017 and took over leadership of the Hamas political bureau in August. Hamas has yet to comment on the claim Sinwar may have been killed.

[Kathianne]

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/22/hamas-sinwar-john-kirby-israel-00180384




Foreign Affairs


Hamas’ Sinwar is ‘big obstacle’ in cease-fire talks, John Kirby says
“But as the president said the other day, everything is unrealistic until all of a sudden it’s not anymore,” the White House national security communications adviser said.


Israeli soldiers move next to destroyed buildings following Israeli strikes.


By Greta Reich


09/22/2024 10:47 AM EDT


Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is the biggest obstacle to a cease-fire in Gaza at this point, according to White House national security communications adviser John Kirby on “Fox News Sunday.”


“It is certainly apparent to us that Mr. Sinwar remains the big obstacle here to getting a deal and it certainly is the case that he has done nothing in the recent weeks to prove he’s willing to move this forward in a good faith way,” Kirby told host Shannon Bream when asked if it’s time to expect that Hamas might not want to make a deal with Israel to end the fighting in Gaza.


Sinwar was the longtime Hamas leader in Gaza before being formally appointed as the overall head of Hamas when Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Iran, likely by Israel. Formerly, Sinwar was also a long-serving Palestinian prisoner freed in a prisoner exchange similar to the kind that would be part of a cease-fire and hostage release deal.


It is believed that Sinwar has been living in tunnels under Gaza since directing the attacks of Oct. 7 against Israel, and it is unclear how much contact he has with the outside world.


“He is the obstacle, no questions about it,” Kirby continued, adding: “It’s tough to get him to say yes to things that he’s already said he wants. It’s very, very difficult. But as the president said the other day, everything is unrealistic until all of a sudden it’s not anymore.”


The president and other Washington officials are in talks with Israel and regional allies in an attempt to prevent a direct confrontation at the Lebanon border. Some cease-fire deals that have been brought to the table by American officials possibly include granting Sinwar safe passage out of Gaza.


“We’re going to keep trying at this, and this idea that we’re just throwing up our hands and it’s not going to happen before the end of the term, I can tell you that’s not where the president is, not where Jake Sullivan or Tony Blinken are,” Kirby said, referencing the national security adviser and the secretary of state. “We still believe that there’s a possibility of moving this forward and we’re going to keep trying. Those hostages need an effort to get them home. We’re not going to give up on that.”


Earlier this month, the U.S. Justice Department announced criminal charges against Sinwar, along with others in connection with the Oct. 7 attack.

[Kathianne]

Yesterday Bret, today the Israelis! I'm starting this day in a good mood!


https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2024/10/17/breaking-high-chance-hamas-leader-killed-in-gaza-strike-n3795919


BREAKING: 'High Chance" Hamas Leader Killed in Gaza Strike; UPDATE: Confirmed?Ed Morrissey 9:20 AM | October 17, 2024



AP Photo/Adel Hana, File
Did Israel find Yahya Sinwar? Only his DNA hairdresser knows for sure at this time, but the IDF believes that they likely killed him in an operation yesterday that killed two other Hamas operatives.


No word on the hostages yet, although the IDF didn't find any at the site yet:


Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar may have been killed in a strike in Gaza, the IDF announced on Thursday.


"Initial report - During IDF operations in the Gaza Strip, three terrorists were eliminated. The IDF and ISA are checking the possibility that one of the terrorists was Yahya Sinwar. At this stage, the identity of the terrorists cannot be confirmed," the IDF said.


"In the building where the terrorists were eliminated, there were no signs of the presence of hostages in the area. The forces that are operating in the area are continuing to operate with the required caution."


CNN and ABC also picked up on this news, which could spell the end of organized military resistance in Gaza.


Hudson Institute expert Mike Doran got access to the pictures of the body that troops initially identified as Sinwar. It certainly looks like the Hamas leader, although older and more emaciated than in previous public appearances:




Sinwar got extensive medical care while imprisoned in Israel for several years. They certainly have his DNA for comparison; indeed, they must have prepared for this moment since Sinwar launched the October 7 massacres.


A "senior official" has briefed Hebrew-language media that there is a "high likelihood" it's Sinwar. That is also coming from the IDF:




Security officials for Gali IDF: assess with high probability that it is indeed Sinwar, all the signs indicate that


So far, there has not been any official statement on where exactly this strike took place. Social media accounts claim it happened in Rafah, which might be surprising, since the IDF turned that city into a ghost town. Most of the IDF's activity has been focused on northern Gaza and Jabaliya of late. If this did happen in Rafah, it would be yet another point of embarrassment for the Biden administration, which did everything it could do to pressure Benjamin Netanyahu to leave Hamas that refuge.


This prompts the question of whether this was just luck, or whether the IDF got actionable intel on Sinwar's location. It could be either, but 'luck' hasn't really played much into IDF or Mossad operations since the beginning of the war -- and especially over the last month. The systematic destruction of Hamas provided Israel with caches of intel data, and likely a large number of turncoats and informants. As Hamas lost its terrorist grip on power, it was only a matter of time before the IDF got actionable intel on Sinwar's true position.


Perhaps the Israelis had a good idea where he was for a while. The wild card, though, is the hostages that Sinwar reportedly used as human shields. Did the hostages all get killed, or did Sinwar separate himself from them for some reason? Assuming this wasn't just a lucky hit during a normal operation -- still possible, of course -- the Israelis must have received some intel that Sinwar didn't have any of them close at hand.


Or, perhaps, this isn't Sinwar. Stand by for more updates.


Update: My friend and Townhall colleague Katie Pavlich has good contacts in the Israeli government, and she's hearing that it's Sinwar:




Update: Is this a coincidence? Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant offered this on Twitter a few moments ago:




As the assessment that Israel has killed Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar grows, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant tweets, “We will reach every terrorist and eliminate them.”


Quoting the biblical book of Leviticus, Gallant adds, “You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall before you by the sword.”


I'd bet that's no coincidence. YMMV, but likely only briefly.


Update: Also no coincidence, I'm betting:


Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s office says the premier directed his military secretary to instruct the IDF to inform the families of hostages that there were no signs of harm to any hostages during the recent incident in Gaza where a terrorist strongly resembling Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was found.


The IDF is reiterating that no hostages or bodies were found in the building, at least through anonymous sources.


Update: Israel's Channel 12 reports that an anonymous official has told them that Sinwar's death has been confirmed. Stand by for more details.


Update: Another well-connected source reports that initial DNA testing confirms that the corpse is Yahya Sinwar. Note the location of the operation, too:




So it was near Rafah, or so it seems. We should hear more from the Israelis soon.


Update: Maybe it was luck after all?


Channel 12 reports that the incident in question took place yesterday and that the IDF troops operating in the area did not know that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was there.


Troops spotted several fighters enter a building and a strike was ordered against it, which collapsed the structure.


Only after Israeli soldiers arrived to inspect the damage did they realize that one of the terrorists killed strongly resembled Sinwar.


Fortune favors the well-prepared!

[Gunny]

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/22/hamas-sinwar-john-kirby-israel-00180384One has to wonder how happy the heir apparent is with his new job and if he wants to continue the obstinance that's held off a cease fire.

[Kathianne]

DNA confirms he's done.

[Gunny]

DNA confirms he's done.Biden admin and Kirby jumping on the hope wagon. Along with CNN:rolleyes:

[Kathianne]

Now THIS is really worth reading. Granted there's little not known, but it's pulled together for one read. Seems the way of the world now, embedded video/audio/conversations. Got to go to the site to see and they are worth it, imo:

https://hotair.com/tree-hugging-sister/2024/10/18/darned-netanyahu-dashing-peace-hopes-n3795962


Darned Netanyahu, 'Dashing Peace Hopes'Beege Welborn 12:50 PM | October 18, 2024



AP Photo/Pamela Smith
Whacking Sinwar yesterday was a stroke of luck that, upon further review, seems to have been one of those mystical pre-ordained events when you look at everything that fell into place to enable that moment in time.


In the first place, they weren't supposed to be in Rafa at all. Great, strategic minds had studied the maps and determined there was no value to an Israeli offensive (in the 'distasteful' sense) in the area.


Warning sternly against any action, these deep-thinking veterans of Middle Eastern affairs and acknowledged international sages declared such a venture would be a 'yuge' mistake.




I'VE STUDIED THE MAPS




Oh, well, there you have it.


Fortunately, the Israelis paid the geniuses no mind.


The American press dutifully pilloried the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) for their operations.


The complaint was the IDF left Rafa looking like a warzone.


Do tell.


Thick clouds of dirt and sand fill the air as our convoy of Humvees arrives in Rafah, the first time international reporters have been allowed in since the Israeli military launched its ground assault on this city two months ago.


As the dust settles, the scale of destruction is startling. But it is also all-too familiar.


This part of Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city which became the last refuge for more than a million Palestinians earlier in the war, is now unrecognizable.


Israel has repeatedly described its ground operation in Rafah as “limited.” But in this neighborhood in southern Rafah, the destruction looks almost identical to what I’ve seen in northern Gaza, in central Gaza and in Khan Younis through the limited prism of trips into Gaza with the Israeli military.


Some homes are flattened and other buildings bombed out.


Maybe because it was/is?


Just stabbing in the dark here.


After what was deemed a generally successful bug hunt, pressure from within also began for the IDF to wrap up in Rafa, and move on to other areas, not to mention the exploding border with Lebanon.


There again, the divine hand of intervention and a few wise voices with enough firepower to count urged caution and to slow the withdrawal down.


The 'let's leave some folks for a bit to make sure' crowd carried the day.


That's how a tank crew made up of volunteers - who'd left attending a safe training course to help out - wound up being the sharp-eyed, last Johnnies-on-the-Spot who noticed bad guys booking into a building.


So they put a couple of tank rounds through the apartment to ensure they couldn't come out.


I mean, you can't make this stuff up - it's so great.




I swear to God, this was all meant to happen.


The Israelis waited until they had the body and could confirm the DNA, etc, before they made the announcement everyone was waiting for.


Did you know how the Israelis came to have everything they needed to confirm the corpse in the ruins was truly the infamous murdering scumbag?


They'd saved his life by treating his brain cancer during the time he spent in an Israeli prison decades before.


...When the soldiers returned to the scene next morning they found that one of the bodies bore striking resemblance to Sanwar, a BBC report said.


They didn’t move the body for fear of booby traps and instead removed a part of the finger and sent it to Israel for testing, it said.


Sinwar was imprisoned in Israel from the late 1980s to 2011. In 2008, when he was in Eshel Prison, he developed a brain tumour, The Atlantic said. An Israeli surgeon operated on his head and saved his life.


His extended stay in prison and treatment for brain cancer left Israeli authorities with extensive medical records such as dental imprints and DNA.


Sinwar was identified by matching his dental information and fingerprints with records on file, the New York Times report cited police as saying.


Ah, the irony.


Terrorists and their gratitude for humanity shown to them are two mutually exclusive concepts.


As soon as Sinwar's demise was official, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the people of Gaza and said, "This war can end tomorrow."




RELEASE THE HOSTAGES - LAY DOWN YOUR WEAPONS, HAMAS


I don't see where it could be any clearer an appeal for peace. It also lays the onus for that peace squarely in the lap of the Gazan people and the now leaderless remnants of Hamas still in the tunnels.


Netanyahu offered amnesty to anyone who facilitated the return of the hostages, saying, "Israel will guarantee the safety" of anyone who helps.


That's it. It could all end tomorrow.


BUT, Netanyahu warns - harm one hair on a hostage's head, and he will hunt you down.


It's an easy, binary choice.


So, who's the bad guy in all this?


According to al-Reuters, Netanyahu is the one crushing everyone's peaceful hopes and dreams.


Netanyahu promises more war, dashing peace hopes after Hamas leader killed


Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's promises to press on with Israel's wars in Gaza and Lebanon dashed hopes on Friday that the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar might help end more than a year of escalating conflict in the Middle East.
Lebanese militant group Hezbollah meanwhile vowed to escalate fighting against Israel and its backer Iran said "the spirit of resistance" would be strengthened by the death of its Palestinian ally Sinwar in Gaza.


Sinwar, a mastermind of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the Gaza war, was killed during an operation by Israeli soldiers in the Palestinian enclave on Wednesday, a pivotal event in the year-long conflict.
Netanyahu called Sinwar's killing a milestone late on Thursday but vowed to keep up the war, which in recent weeks expanded from fighting against Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza into an invasion of southern Lebanon and the bombardment of large swathes of the country.


"The war, my dear ones, is not yet over," Netanyahu told Israelis, saying fighting would continue until hostages held by Hamas are released.
Netanyahu is the reason conflict is "escalating" in the Middle East, not emboldened terrorist regimes and Iranian proxies acting with impunity. Snickering as they watch US fecklessness and double-dealing hold Israel back while actively working to undercut and compromise Israeli operations.


That's an all-well and good delusional take as long as you ignore October 7, 2023.


As long as one is also willing to swallow the Democratic, progressive, and anti-Semitic concept of a 'proportional' response to a murderous, savage, barbaric, and unprovoked attack on a sovereign nation.


I'm not.




...Since weeks after 10/7, the pressure on Israel from the Democratic Party, Europe, the UN, the media, the western foreign policy and political establishment, etc, to cut a deal, to agree to a "ceasefire," to surrender, has been unrelenting and enormous. And for a full year, the leader of a tiny and vulnerable country has resisted and outmaneuvered the pressure to stop fighting. It's a remarkable achievement, and it's the real reason Sinwar is dead.


Bibi has offered Hamas a peace they truly don't deserve, much like that surgeon saving Sinwar's life decades ago.


Israel knows it could very well bite them brutally in the asterisk yet again.




But that right there is also the difference between the terrorists and Israel...and terrorist apologists.