DNA testing has confirmed the death of Yahya Sinwar, the leader of the Palestinian movement Hamas, in the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli public broadcaster Kan. The outlet, citing Israeli security sources, reported that Sinwar’s identity was verified through DNA samples.
Kan's sources indicated that identifying Sinwar was made easier due to his previous imprisonment in Israeli jails.
Earlier, the Israeli military announced that three Palestinian militants had been killed during operations in the Gaza Strip, one of whom was suspected to be Sinwar. The army's press service stated that efforts to confirm the identities of the deceased were ongoing. Meanwhile, a source from Sky News Arabia confirmed the death of the Hamas political bureau chief in Rafah, though no official statement has been issued yet.
Yahya Sinwar, a native of Gaza and one of the founders of Hamas' military wing, spent more than 22 years in Israeli prisons. He was released in 2011 as part of a prisoner exchange, where 1,027 Palestinian prisoners were traded for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who had been captured by Palestinian fighters in 2006. Sinwar became the leader of Hamas in Gaza in 2017, and in early August of this year, he was elected the new head of the political bureau of the entire organization. He succeeded Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Tehran on July 31.
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Photo: Zuma\TASS
Based on TASS materials