Last update:
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar seen in a tunnel in Gaza before the October 7 attack on Israel | Image/Screengrab (X@IDF)
The footage shows Yahya Sinwar along with his wife and children carrying belongings including a TV, water, pillows and mattresses into a tunnel
Days after Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was eliminated in a planned operation in the Palestinian enclave, the Israeli military on Sunday released footage of him and his family seen in an underground tunnel in Gaza hours before Hamas launched the attack on October 7 last year that sparked ongoing war.
The footage shows Sinwar, along with his wife and children, carrying items including a TV, water, pillows and mattresses into a tunnel, while the Hamas leader appears to be stocking up on supplies ahead of the group’s attack on Israel, military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said.
Confirming that the tunnel used as the Hamas leader’s hideout was under the family home in Khan Younis, Hagari said: “It was a luxury that the people of Gaza didn’t have – because Sinwar always prioritized himself, the money and the terrorists of Hamas over the people of Gaza.”
Hagari showed pictures of the underground tunnel network, which had toilets, showers and a kitchen.
DECLASSIFIED FOOTAGE: Sinful War hours before the October 7 massacre: lowers his TV in his tunnel, hides under his civilians and prepares to watch his terrorists kill, rape and rape him. pic.twitter.com/wTAF9xAPLU
— LTC Nadav Shoshani (@LTC_Shoshani) October 19, 2024
The last moments of Yahya Sinwar
Israeli forces released drone footage showing the final moments of Hamas leader Sinwar. The footage shows Sinwar “sitting on a sofa, wounded” in a destroyed house in Gaza. Meanwhile, Hamas said Sinwar died heroically in battle.
The video shows Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar throwing a stick over his head in the direction of the approaching drone, his right arm appearing badly injured.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz confirmed that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who masterminded the October 7 attack on Israel, had been “eliminated” according to the initial DNA test.
“Shot in the head, chop off a finger”
Before Hamas officially confirmed Sinwar’s death, an autopsy conducted by Israel found that Yahya Sinwar had been killed by a gunshot to the head. An expert from Israel’s National Center for Forensic Medicine said the Hamas leader’s body reached them with a severed finger.
Chen Kugel, the chief pathologist, said in an interview with CNN that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) cut off Sinwar’s finger for DNA analysis. He said he was “100 percent” sure of the identity of the body sent to the lab and of his judgment that the gunshot was the cause of death. He added that the Hamas leader suffered other injuries, including from a tank shell.
During the year-long Israel-Hamas conflict, Israeli forces frequently pursued Sinwar, but the latter managed to escape. Israel identified Sinuar’s final hiding place after the military found “his DNA sample on a tissue that he used to blow his nose with,” Hagari said.
The October 7 attack on Israel, orchestrated by Sinwar, killed an estimated 1,200 people and resulted in 235 people being taken hostage. Since then, Israel’s retaliation in Gaza against Hamas positions has resulted in over 40,000 deaths.
