Middle East Crisis Live: Israeli Army Says It Is Investigating Possibility of Killing Hamas Chief Yahya Sinwar | Israel-Gaza war

Bethan McKernan

Yahya SinwarThe Hamas The Israeli military says the leader who planned the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza may have been killed.

“Three terrorists were eliminated during Israel Defense Forces (IDF) operations in the Gaza Strip. The IDF is investigating the possibility that one of the terrorists was Yahya Sinwar. “At this point, the identity of the terrorists cannot be confirmed,” it said in a statement released on Thursday afternoon local time.

“In the building where the terrorists were eliminated, there were no signs of the presence of hostages in the area. The forces operating in the region continue to act with due caution.”

Several security officials anonymously told Israeli media that the bodies had been taken to Israel for DNA testing and that the IDF believed it was “highly likely” that one of those killed was Sinwar.

Israel's Kan Radio reported that the Hamas leader was killed “accidentally” and not through intelligence gathering. The station also said the bodies were found with lots of cash and fake IDs.

It was long believed that Sinwar had surrounded himself with Israeli hostages to reduce the chances of being killed. However, the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement that no hostages were believed to have been present.

Read the full report here:

AP has released more details on reports Hamas' supreme leader Yahya Sinwar was killed in a military operation in Gaza (see 13.53 BST).

The military said in a statement on Thursday that three militants had been killed in operations in Gaza, without elaborating. It said the identity of the three had not yet been confirmed, but that it was “examining the possibility” that one of the three was Sinwar.

It said there were no signs that Israeli hostages were in the building where the three militants were killed.

There was no immediate comment from Hamas.
Sinwar was one of the main architects of Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. He was elected as the group's top leader following the killing of Ismael Haniyeh in July in an apparent Israeli attack in the Iranian capital Tehran.

According to a recent news line from Reuters, an Israeli A military spokesman said the possibility existed Hamas Leader, Yahya Sinwarwas “eliminated”. Reuters adds that the Israeli military is checking.

We will update with more information as it comes in.

AlJazeera Employees evacuated their offices in the city center Beirut on Thursday afternoon after receiving messages telling them to leave the building, similar to previous evacuation warnings from Israel that preceded the bombings, the network reported. Two messages, one of them is this Norwegian Embassywhich is also housed in the same building, was also evacuated.

Al Jazeera's office is located in the heart of downtown Beirut, one kilometer from the landmark Blue Mosque And Martyrs' Square where displaced people live.

people inside Lebanon They have received messages and calls urging them to evacuate ahead of Israeli bombings over the past month since Israel began doing so Operation Northern Arrows on September 23rd. Some of these messages turned out to be false alarms, leading to mass panic and the arrest of perpetrators by Lebanese security forces.

William Christou is a Beirut-based journalist who writes about Lebanon for the Guardian.

About 345,000 Palestinians are facing a 'catastrophic' famine this winter after aid supplies dwindle, a U.N.-supported assessment said on Thursday, warning of the ongoing threat of famine across the Palestinian territory.

Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports that this is an increase from the 133,000 people currently classified as “catastrophically food insecure,” according to a classification drawn up by UN agencies and NGOs.

Yemen's Houthi rebels have vowed to take revenge afterwards United States carried out several attacks with B-2 heavy bombers on weapons depots in areas controlled by the Iranian-backed group.

A statement from the Houthis' Iran-backed Politburo said:

We confirm that American aggression will not go without response.

At least 19 Palestinians, including children, were killed on Thursday after an Israeli strike hit a school housing displaced people in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, a Gaza Health Ministry official told Reuters.

Dozens were also injured in the strike, official Medhat Abbas said, adding: “There is no water to put out the fire. There's nothing there.”