Yahya Sinwar is Hamas’ leader in Gaza and one of the key architects of the October 7 attacks into southern Israel – making him one of the key targets of Israel’s war in the Palestinian enclave.
The Israeli military is investigating whether Sinwar, who has not been seen in public for more than a year, was killed in Gaza.
Longtime figure: Sinwar was appointed the new head of Hamas’ political bureau, following the assassination of his predecessor, Ismail Haniyeh in late July, casting him as one of the militant group’s most potent figures.
He was convicted in 1988 of playing a role in the murder of two Israeli soldiers and four Palestinians suspected of collaboration with Israel, and spent more than two decades in Israeli prison. Sinwar later said he had spent those years studying his enemy, including learning to speak Hebrew.
He has been designated a global terrorist by the US Department of State since 2015, and has been sanctioned by the United Kingdom and France.
Rise to power: Sinwar joined the Palestinian group in the late 1980s, and was responsible for bolstering Hamas’ military wing before forming key ties with regional Arab players.
He was born in 1962, in a refugee camp in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. Decades earlier, his family fled Al-Majdal, a village in historic Palestine during al-Nakba, or “the catastrophe” – along with 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were forcibly expelled from their homes following the 1948/49 war, in what is now Israel.
41 min ago
Israeli sources say man believed to be Sinwar killed during routine operation
From CNN’s Jeremy Diamond and Dana Karni
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, speaks during a conference in Gaza on November 4, 2019.
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, speaks during a conference in Gaza on November 4, 2019. APAImages/Shutterstock
Israeli forces encountered a man believed to be Yahya Sinwar during routine military operations in the Gaza Strip, two Israeli sources familiar with the matter said.
Israeli infantry troops encountered three militants near a building in Gaza and engaged them, the sources said.
After the battle ended, troops found a body resembling Sinwar’s and alerted senior commanders.
The Israeli military and intelligence services have since been working to identify whether the body is indeed Sinwar’s through DNA analysis, the sources said.
Earlier on Thursday, Israel’s military said it was investigating whether Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed in military operations in the Gaza strip.
This is a breaking news story. We will bring you more details as we get them.
58 min ago
No sign of harm to hostages during Gaza operation that may have killed Sinwar, Netanyahu says
From CNN’s Eugenia Yosef
There were no signs of harm to any hostages in the Israeli operation in Gaza that may have killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said.
Netanyahu’s spokesperson said that the prime minister had instructed the Israeli military to tell families of hostages there were “no signs of harm to the hostages in the encounter in question.”
13 min ago
Unconfirmed images purported to be of Hamas chief’s body circulating on social media platforms
From CNN’s Pauline Lockwood
Unconfirmed pictures purported to show the dead body of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar are circulating widely on social media.
In them, a man strongly resembling Sinwar can be seen lying dead in the rubble of a destroyed building with serious injuries to the skull.
CNN’s photo desk has run the images through authenticator software, which shows no signs of image manipulation.
It is not possible to discern a location or timeframe of his death from the still photographs.
CNN has not yet been able to confirm the identity of the man seen in the photographs.
The Israel Defense Forces said on Thursday it was investigating whether the Hamas leader has been killed in Gaza.
1 hr 11 min ago
Sinwar hasn’t been seen in more than a year
From CNN’s Abbas Al Lawati
A street in Iranian capital Tehran after the posters featuring Hamas’ new political chief Yahya Sinwar have been put up on August 13.
A street in Iranian capital Tehran after the posters featuring Hamas’ new political chief Yahya Sinwar have been put up on August 13. Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu/Getty Images
One of Israel’s most wanted men, Yahya Sinwar hasn’t been seen since the war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7, 2023.
He also hadn’t been publicly heard from for almost a year – until mid-September.
On September 10, he issued his first statement since the war, congratulating Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune for his election victory, according to Hamas’ Telegram channel.
The next day, his office said he wrote letters thanking those who offered condolences after the death of Ismail Haniyeh, his slain predecessor. And on September 13, a letter was sent to then-Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. CNN could not verify if Sinwar was indeed the author of the letters.
Sinwar was named political leader of Hamas after Haniyeh was assassinated in the Iranian capital Tehran in July. He is seen as more hardline than his predecessor in dealings with Israel and favors cooperation and closer ties with Iran and allied Islamist groups such as Hezbollah.
1 hr 32 min ago
US officials have long looked to Sinwar’s eventual death as a key opportunity to end the Israel-Hamas war
From CNN’s MJ Lee
US officials were mum in the immediate moments after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced it was investigating whether a strike in Gaza had taken out Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
If Sinwar is in fact confirmed dead, the ramifications for the Biden administration would be momentous. His potential death, perhaps more than anything else, the singular event that many US officials had pointed to as the biggest potential game-changer in the Israel-Hamas war that has now been ongoing for more than a year.
With a ceasefire and hostages deal to pause the war stubbornly stuck for months, senior administration officials had hung onto hope that Sinwar might one day be taken out – and that that could open up doors that simply would not be otherwise. US officials have looked at Sinwar, simply put, the scalp that Israel needs most to be able to declare that they are done with the Gaza war.
Even in discussions of a so-called “all for all” deal – the idea that every hostage held by Hamas would be released in exchange for every Palestinian prisoner that Hamas wants freed – which is widely viewed as far-fetched – some US officials had mused perhaps such an idea could be remotely viable if Sinwar were dead.
54 min ago
Israeli military investigating whether Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed in Gaza
From CNN’s Dana Karni
Hamas’ Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar attends attends a meeting with members of Palestinian groups in Gaza City, Gaza on April 13, 2022.
Hamas’ Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar attends attends a meeting with members of Palestinian groups in Gaza City, Gaza on April 13, 2022. Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Israel’s military is investigating whether Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed in military operation in the Gaza Strip.
“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 Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.
Sinwar is the most significant Hamas figure still at large, and Israel considers him the “mastermind” of the deadly October 7 attacks that triggered Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza.
He has not been seen in public since the Hamas attacks and is thought to have been hiding in the vast network of tunnels worming their way under Gaza.
This is a developing story. We will bring you more details as we get them.
This post has been updated to clarify what the IDF said about its military operation in the Gaza Strip.