IDF
A drone glides in through a glassless window on the second floor of a battle-scarred building.
Through the cloud of dust whipped up by its propellers, its IDF operators spied a lone man with his face covered, sitting hunched over in an armchair.
That’s it an injured Yahya SinwarThe Hamas leader and mastermind behind the October 7 massacre, with a stick in his left hand.
Sinwar swings his makeshift weapon at the drone and throws it lightly at the hovering device, as if resigned to the fate that he was about to die.
Moments later, an Israeli Merkeva tank fired at the mysterious figure, its soldiers unaware that it was Sinwar, Israel’s most wanted man.
He was one of three terrorist attackers seen darting between buildings in Rafah’s Tel Sultan neighborhood.
Two pushed forward, as if clearing a path for the third man who followed from behind.
A tank opened fire, forcing the trio to split up.
One climbed to the second floor of a building to seek cover from his hunters.
Body found with Mentos mint
Israeli soldiers attempted to enter the structure, but retreated after the lone terrorist threw two grenades in their direction.
That’s when they sent the drone to search the building, before opening fire on it again.
It wasn’t until the building was searched again by IDF troops that they discovered that the man with his face covered and arm injured was the leader of Hamas.
Sinwar’s lifeless, rubble-covered corpse was found with an assortment of Mento’s coinage, weapons, cash and fake ID cards.
It was recovered and brought back to Israel for DNA and dental testing to confirm that Israel had found its man.
The IDF had hunted the man who planned the October 7 terrorist attack for over a year.
He was believed to have gone into hiding Hamas tunnel network deep beneath Gaza.
Daniel Hagari, the IDF spokesman, said Sinwar was probably trying to “escape north, to safer areas” while Israeli troops were closing in on him.