Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, was killed during an Israeli military operation, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz confirmed late on Thursday.
The October 7 mastermind
was the architect behind the October 7 terror attacks last year on Israel, which left some 1,200 people dead and led to hundreds being taken hostage. Those terror attacks prompted Israel’s current .
The 61-year-old became the political leader of Hamas in after the August in Iran’s capital, Tehran. Hamas, which rules over the Palestinian territory of Gaza, is deemed a terrorist organization not only by Israel, but also the US, Germany and several other countries.
The Hamas leader was born in a Palestinian refugee camp in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. He joined Hamas in 1987 shortly after it was founded.
Sinwar spent decades in Israeli prisons for killing two Israeli soldiers.
During the imprisonment, he read Israeli newspapers and reportedly became fluent in Hebrew. Israeli doctors also saved his life from a cancerous brain tumor and provided him with dental treatment.
The ‘Butcher of Khan Younis’
Sinwar was released in 2011 as part of a prisoner exchange for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Palestinian militants had abducted Shalit in 2006.
Sinwar’s ruthlessness and zero tolerance for Palestinian collaborators with Israel led him to being called the “Butcher of Khan Younis.” Following the October 7 terror attacks, there were reports that he spoke in Hebrew with a group of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
wd/ab (Reuters, AP)
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