GAZA - The Israel Defense Forces Thursday claimed the martyrdom of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in an operation in the south of Gaza Wednesday after a “year-long pursuit”.
The IDF released a statement saying Sinwar was martyred by its troops. It comes after Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz told his counterparts around the world that Sinwar was martyred.
In a statement, the IDF says Sinwar planned and executed the 7 October attack and was “responsible for the murder and abduction of many Israelis.”
“Yahya Sinwar was eliminated after hiding for the past year behind the civilian population of Gaza, both above and below ground in Hamas tunnels in the Gaza Strip,” it says. The Israeli military says it has been operating in southern Gaza following intelligence “that indicated the suspected locations of senior members of Hamas”.
Meanwhile, at least 28 Palestinians were martyred in an Israeli airstrike on Abu Hussein School in northern Gaza on Thursday. Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, said that 28 people had died in the strike on the school-turned-shelter, which is located in the Jabalya refugee camp.
At least 150 others were wounded, according to Fares Afana, the head of emergency and ambulance services in the region.
Afana added that ambulances have been unable to evacuate injured people from Jabalya to nearby Baptist Hospital for 13 days. “We are also facing a shortage of specialists to treat the severe injuries,” he said.
The Israel Defense Forces said an Israeli warplane had carried out a strike on a “command and control center used by Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists,” claiming that it was located inside a compound that “was previously” the school in northern Gaza.