How Yahya Sinwar's brain cancer treatment helped Israel identify Hamas chief's body

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the October 7 terror attack, was killed on October 16. (file photo)

Israel took almost a day before announcing the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, a man it had been hunting for a year following the October 7, 2023 attack in which over 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage.

The 61-year-old Sinwar, who masterminded Israel’s worst terror strike, was killed by Israeli troops in southern Gaza on October 16 in what has been described as a chance encounter.

According to reports, infantry soldiers from the Bislach Brigade were searching an area in the Tal El Sultan of southern Gaza for senior members of Hamas.

They saw three suspected militants moving between buildings and opened fire, leading to a gunfight during which Yahya Sinwar escaped into a ruined building, a Reuters report said.

Tank shells and a missile were also fired at the building. A mini drone, the footage of which has been shared by Israel Defense Forces (IDF), shows an injured man slumped in a chair covered in dust. As the drone hovers nearby, the video shows him throwing a stick at it.

The footage only identified him as a fighter, Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said. "He tried to escape and our forces eliminated him," Reuters quoted him as saying.

Also read: 'Finally reunited': Israel shares photo of ex-Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh kissing Yahya Sinwar

Another report said the troops left the building without realising they had killed the man they were hunting for more than a year.

When the soldiers returned to the scene next morning they found that one of the bodies bore striking resemblance to Sanwar, a BBC report said.

They didn’t move the body for fear of booby traps and instead removed a part of the finger and sent it to Israel for testing, it said.

Sinwar was imprisoned in Israel from the late 1980s to 2011. In 2008, when he was in Eshel Prison, he developed a brain tumour, The Atlantic said.  An Israeli surgeon operated on his head and saved his life.

His extended stay in prison and treatment for brain cancer left Israeli authorities with extensive medical records such as dental imprints and DNA.

Sinwar was identified by matching his dental information and fingerprints with records on file, the New York Times report cited police as saying.

Israeli media also reported that oral and orthodontic specialists confirm that the jaw structure, initially helped identify Sinwar’s body. Later, DNA and other tests were conducted to confirm the identity. On October 17, Israel announced Sinwar’s death.