Yahya Sinouar was more than a man to be killed: he was the ultimate Israeli target. He was assassinated by the Israeli army on Thursday, October 17 in Gaza. The former head of Hamas in Gaza, who became head of the Islamist movement after the elimination of its political leader in exile, Ismaïl Haniyeh, during an operation in Tehran at the end of July, had been, together with Mohammed Deif (head of the armed wing of the movement), the designer, the organizer, the meticulous director of the attack of October 7, 2023.
This unprecedented tragedy suffered by the Israelis, which left 1,200 dead – the largest massacre in the country’s history – and led to the taking of more than 250 hostages, became the starting point of a conflict of historic dimension, beginning with the military operation in Gaza. which killed more than 40,000 people, including, according to the Israeli military, 17,000 Hamas fighters, and a larger number of civilians, particularly women and children, and reduced the enclave to a field of ruins.
For months, Israeli generals have believed that Hamas is a defeated armed movement and that the war in its current form should be interrupted to intervene only during specific operations in the enclave, almost all of whose inhabitants have been displaced, especially to Kill Yahya Sinouar .
DNA analysis
The latter remains the symbolic man of October 7. A man, until Thursday, to find and kill. It’s already done. He was eventually killed during an Israeli army operation in the Gaza enclave that was clearly not intended to harm him. The army claimed to have attempted to kill. “three terrorists” within the framework of movements dedicated to other objectives, and having discovered only after a shootout, in the ruins of a building attacked during this intervention, the body of a man who bore a physical resemblance to the leader of Hamas. It was then necessary to carry out DNA analysis to confirm the news of his death, late on Thursday afternoon.
Yahya Sinouar had been feverishly persecuted for twelve months and ten days. During this long year, all other senior Hamas figures in Gaza were eliminated one after another, as was Ismaïl Haniyeh, the political leader of the Islamist movement, in exile. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over the months showed visitors at his Kirya office in Tel Aviv the list of Hamas leaders with crosses on their faces as they were eliminated. The only thing missing was Yahya Sinouar. In absolute terms, this could close a phase of the current war. The Israeli hostages who remain captive in Gaza remain to be found. Of 101 people, half would already be dead. The life chances of others decrease day by day.
You have 41.55% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
