Israel confirms death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar

Hamas’s top leader, Yahya Sinwar, has been killed by an Israeli military operation in Gaza.

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed through dental records Sinwar’s identification, CNN reported.

The New York Times also compared photographs of the remains to those of Sinwar from the past and said the body strongly resembles Sinwar, but that severe wounds make it impossible to determine if it is him.

President Joe Biden was briefed and officials in the administration have been in close contact with Israel. It is expected that Sinwar’s apparent death will be part of the discussions between Biden and his allies during his trip to Germany on Friday, CNN reported.

The Israeli military conducted an airstrike on a school Thursday that had been sheltering displaced Palestinians, Gaza’s Health Ministry said. The agency said that at least 28 people were killed in the strike, including five children, the AP reported. Nearly 100 people were wounded.

Israel said it targeted the school in Jabaliya because militants were meeting there.

Sinwar was the head of Hamas after its previous leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in July.

Sinwar was born in 1962 in a refugee camp in Khan Younis in Gaza and joined Hamas shortly after it was created in 1987. He was the head of Hamas’ security which eliminated informants for Israel in Hamas, the AP reported.

He was also called the “chief architect” of the Oct. 7 attack by the AP, or “mastermind” by CNN. The Oct. 7 attack killed more than 1,200 men, women and children last year. The Department of State called it “the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.”

The attack just over a year ago also “unleashed a year of conflict, with tragic consequences for the Palestinian people,” the State Department said.

U.S. intelligence is trying to determine who will take over control of Hamas in light of Sinwar’s apparent death, CNN reported.

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