The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Thursday released drone video that captured the final moments of Hamas terrorist leader Yahya Sinwar, mastermind of the October 7 atrocities, right before he was killed by Israeli ground forces in the Gaza city of Rafah.
The drone entered the building where Sinwar was hiding through an upstairs window and found him seated in an armchair, surrounded by debris, with one of his hands missing.
The terrorist leader weakly looked at the drone and hoisted a weapon in defiance when he heard its propellers. His final act was to throw his weapon at the drone and miss. The weapon looks a bit like a damaged rifle, but military after-action reports described it as a “wooden stick.”
According to a report by Israeli Army Radio military correspondent Doron Kadosh, Israeli ground forces in the Tel Sultan district of Rafah noticed suspicious activity at around 10:00 a.m. local time. They watched the area until about 3:00 p.m., when they observed several Hamas operatives darting from house to house in a pattern that suggested they were clearing the way for movement by their comrades.
The Israeli troops had no idea at the time that the movement would be Yahya Sinwar and his entourage, who were apparently planning to flee Rafah across the border into Egypt. When the Israelis engaged the terrorists, they scattered into different buildings.
The masked and hooded Sinwar sought refuge on the second floor of the building seen in the IDF drone video above. An Israeli tank fired a shell into the building, which is why both the structure and Sinwar were in the rough condition that can be observed in the video.
Sinwar and his bodyguards attempted to exit the building, but an IDF platoon surrounded the house and threw two grenades to drive them back. Sinwar’s hand appears to have been mangled by either the first tank shell or the subsequent Israeli grenades.
The drone video ended immediately before the Israelis fired another tank shell into the building, finishing off Sinwar. His body was discovered when IDF forces swept the rubble the following morning, discovered several Hamas corpses, and realized one of them resembled the terrorist leader. Sinwar’s identity was confirmed by DNA analysis on Thursday.
