Israeli foreign minister claims Hamas chief killed
Israel Katz says the Israeli army has killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza.
Sinwar’s death has not been confirmed by Hamas.
Israeli army, Shin Bet now saying Hamas leader has been killed
A joint statement from the spokespeople for the Israeli army and domestic security agency Shin Bet says Sinwar was killed on Wednesday during an operation in the southern Gaza Strip.
“A force of the 828th Brigade, which operated in the area, identified and eliminated three terrorists. After completing the process of identifying the body, it can now be confirmed that [Sinwar] was eliminated,” the statement reads.
This statement follows a statement moments ago from Israel’s foreign minister saying Sinwar had been killed.
US House speaker says Sinwar ’embodiment of evil’
The Republican speaker of the House of Representatives in the US, Israel’s top military and diplomatic ally, has applauded the claim by Israel that Sinwar has been killed, saying his death brings “relief” to the people of Israel.
“Sinwar’s life was the embodiment of evil and marked by hatred for all that is good in the world,” Mike Johnson said in a statement.
“His death brings hope for all those who seek to live in freedom, and relief to Israelis he has sought to oppress.”
Err, he's a product of Israeli oppression, but whatever Mike.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/6/who-is-yahya-sinwar-ismail-haniyehs-successor-as-hamas-chief
Born in 1962 in a refugee camp Khan Younis, Sinwar is often portrayed as one of the most uncompromising top Hamas officials. He was arrested by Israel repeatedly in the early 1980s for his involvement in anti-occupation activism at the Islamic University in Gaza.
Sinwar did ‘not shy away’ from tough questions: Journalist
Hind Hassan, who conducted a one-on-one interview with Sinwar in 2021, says he came across as a man “who was defiant” in his beliefs.
Hassan told Al Jazeera she met him “walking down the street in full view” during a period when Israel had been bombing Gaza for 11 days and “everyone had believed he was in hiding.”
Hind said he did “not shy away” from some of the tougher questions.
She said when she asked a question about the claims that Hamas firing rockets into Israel could constitute a war crime, he became “passionate” in his responses.
He said Palestinians were expected to be “perfect victims, and that’s something that they cannot be”, she said.
He also drew a comparison between the protest movement that sprung up in the wake of George Floyd’s killing by US police in 2020 and what happened with the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States to the Palestinian cause, Hind said.
