The latest on Hamas leader’s death and war in the Mideast

 The latest on Hamas leader’s death and war in the Mideast

• New details emerge on Sinwar’s death: Israeli officials say Yahya Sinwar — Israel’s most wanted man since Hamas’ October 7 attack last year — was killed during a routine ground patrol in Rafah. The Israeli pathologist who performed his autopsy told that Sinwar was killed by a bullet to the head. The IDF said there was an exchange of gunfire, and combat ended with the Israeli military firing a tank shell at the building.

• What Hamas and Israel are saying: Hamas, which confirmed Sinwar’s death, said it will not free hostages until Israel ends the war, fully withdraws from Gaza, and releases Palestinian prisoners. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to keep fighting until all hostages are returned. Still, US officials expressed renewed hope for a possible ceasefire deal.

• On the ground in Gaza: The World Health Organization said Israel is blocking multiple medical organizations from entering Gaza, which Israel has denied.

Gaza father mourns death of second child in a week following Israeli airstrike in hospital complex

Mohammad al-Dalou whimpered as he mourned the death of another son — the second of his children to die this week — in the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital on Friday.

CNN footage from the medical facility in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza showed dozens of men comforting the Palestinian father over the loss of Abdul Rahman. The 11-year-old boy died early Thursday, just days after he was severely wounded in a fire set off by an Israeli airstrike that hit improvised tents in the hospital complex on Monday.

“I have no one left; they are all gone. No one is doing anything. Our children and women are being killed in front of the entire world,” al-Dalou cried. “We are being slaughtered and torn to pieces.”

Al-Dalou’s right arm and head are scarred with burns from that blaze, CNN footage shows. As CNN previously reported, al-Dalou managed to rescue three of his children, including Abdul Rahman — but could not save his other son, Shaaban, 19, or his wife, Alaa, 37, who died in the flames that night.

Shaaban, a university student who would have turned 20 on Wednesday, memorized the Quran and dreamed of leaving Gaza, according to al-Dalou.

“I wish the fire had consumed me and not my children. Oh, my heart, my children. My whole life is gone. My whole life is gone,” said al-Dalou.

The Israel Defense Forces said the strike in Deir al-Balah was targeting a Hamas command center it claimed was embedded within the hospital complex.

 

Sinwar's bodyguard was also killed by Israel's forces, Hamas and Israeli military say

A bodyguard of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has been killed, according to both Hamas and the Israeli military on Friday.

Hamas said that Mahmoud Hamdan “Abu Yusuf” was the commander of the Tal al-Sultan Brigade in the southern Gazan city of Rafah, and he was killed while “engaging with the occupying army in the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood, alongside the martyr leader of the flood, Yahya Sinwar.”

The Israel Defense Forces said it killed Hamdan on Friday and that he was “responsible for guarding” Sinwar.

Originally, the IDF said intelligence had assessed that he was likely killed “a few weeks ago” but that intelligence turned out to be “insufficient, meaning Hamdan continued to guard Sinwar.”

The military said that on Friday he was “eliminated by the IDF during an encounter with IDF troops, approximately 200 meters from the spot where Sinwar was eliminated.”

The IDF declined to comment further on the timing of Hamdan’s death.

 

Sinwar's body could be a bargaining chip in hostage return negotiations, Israeli sources say

The body of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar could be used as a “bargaining chip” in exchange for the release of Israeli hostages being held in Gaza, Israeli sources tell CNN.
Sinwar’s remains are currently being held in a secret location in Israel, according to local media reports, after he was killed on Wednesday by Israeli forces in southern Gaza.
Two sources told CNN that securing hostage releases would likely be Israel’s priority in deciding how to leverage the remains of the man accused by Israel of masterminding the October 7 terror attacks last year.
More than 100 hostages taken during the Hamas-led attacks remain in captivity in Gaza. Israeli authorities are currently weighing how to “create pressure quickly” on Hamas to let them go, one Israeli source said.
“If Hamas wants to swap his remains for Israelis, dead or alive, then fine,” according to an Israeli diplomatic source.
Both sources agreed Sinwar could be seen as a “bargaining chip.”
A swap for hostages is likely the only way that Sinwar’s remains return to Gaza, said the Israeli source. “Otherwise handing him over is not going to happen,” the source said.
According to the diplomatic source, returning Sinwar’s remains to Gaza in any circumstance risks rallying Hamas supporters. If Sinwar were buried in Gaza, the site could become a shrine for followers, the source also predicted.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog held a security meeting on Friday about the “significant window of opportunity” that Sinwar’s killing presents for the return of hostages, Herzog’s office said in a statement.
In remarks Thursday, Netanyahu also called on Hamas members still holding Israeli hostages to lay down their weapons and return the captives, saying whoever does so will be allowed to “go out and live.”
 

Hamas has confirmed Yahya Sinwar’s death as more details emerge. Catch up here

Hamas confirmed the death of its leader, Yahya Sinwar, in a video statement by senior official Khalil Al Hayya, who has served as chief negotiator for the militant group in talks for a potential Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal.

In a televised address, Al Hayya said Hamas will not release Israeli hostages until “aggression on our people in Gaza stops,” Israel completely withdraws from the enclave and Palestinian prisoners in Israel are released.

Here’s what else to know:

More details emerge: The chief pathologist who autopsied Sinwar’s body told CNN that the Hamas leader was killed by a gunshot wound to the head. The Israel Defense Forces previously had not said anything about its troops firing a fatal gunshot. Asked for comment, an IDF spokesperson told CNN that there was an exchange of gunfire and that the combat ended with Israel firing a tank shell at the building. The IDF is still working to learn all of the details, the spokesperson added. The pathologist further told CNN that when Israeli forces found a body resembling Sinwar’s on Wednesday, his finger was cut off and sent for DNA testing in order to identify him.

US response so far: US President Joe Biden said that ending the conflict in the Middle East will still be difficult after Sinwar’s death. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the US could “quite possibly” play a role in stabilization efforts in Gaza after the war with Israel ends, adding it would need to be defined alongside allies in the region.

Blockade of medical organizations: The World Health Organization has accused Israel of blocking multiple medical organizations from entering Gaza — marking the first time entire health agencies have been denied access to the enclave during the over yearlong war. Specialists denied entry were supposed to support “already overburdened” staff in performing medical treatments, including surgeries, at strained facilities such as the Nasser Medical Complex and the European Hospital in southern Gaza and Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza, WHO said. COGAT, the Israeli agency that coordinates the inspection and delivery of humanitarian assistance into Gaza, has denied the accusations.

Gaza’s strained health care system: Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of the few functioning hospitals in northern Gaza, is overwhelmed by the amount of incoming patients, with staff fatigued and running out of medical supplies and food, the director said. “This is a catastrophic situation in every sense of the meaning,” Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya told CNN in a video message. “From yesterday until this moment, no one has slept.” In addition, the hospital is grappling with the number of babies born prematurely due to the stress on pregnant women amid heavy bombing in northern Gaza, he added.

Israel continues operations in Lebanon: Israel issued an evacuation notice to residents of 23 villages in southern Lebanon, urging them to move north. Some of the villages mentioned in the notice on Friday had been named in previous warnings. On Tuesday, the Middle East director of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that around a fifth of Lebanon’s population has fled their homes, and about a quarter of the country is under Israeli military evacuation orders. Israel also called up “an additional reserve brigade for operational missions” in northern Israel against Hezbollah, the IDF said.