The Israeli army said in a statement that “after completing the process of identifying the body," it can be confirmed that Sinwar was killed.
Israel says Sinwar's body was taken to Tel Aviv hospital for 'further examination'.
According to the Israeli army, three Hamas members, including Sinwar, were killed in a gunfight in a building in Rafah. This contradicts earlier claims that Sinwar was hiding in tunnels.
Israel’s Kan Radio reported that the Hamas leader was killed by coincidence in Tel Al Sultan during a battle with an Israeli infantry unit, and not part of a premeditated plan or intelligence operation.
US-based ABC News, citing an official, reported that an Israeli unit in Rafah, tasked with neutralizing an unexploded missile, opened fire on four armed men. They also targeted a fifth man, who was throwing grenades from a nearby building. The unit responded with tank fire and a missile strike, but when the man survived, a sniper shot him, and then sent a drone in to confirm that he had been killed.
At this point, an Israeli soldier said, the troops did not know that the man they were targeting was Sinwar, Times of Israel reported.
When a different unit went to check the building Thursday morning, they discovered the body of Sinwar, the official told ABC.
Hamas-linked website Al-Majd urged Palestinians to wait for an official statement from the group, warning that Israeli media reports aimed to demoralize them.
"Bigger than the man himself"
Footage released by the Israelis from Sinwar's supposedly final moments shows him masked throwing a stick at an Israeli drone (which Israeli media later reported had targetted and killed him) with his right arm, the left having been blown off.
Palestinian affairs correspondent of the Israeli channel Kan 11 Elior Levy shared the video on X saying, "The documentation you see is not what the people of Hamas or Hezbollah see. They see a man who fought until the last moment, until the last drop of blood."
"Even while injured, he was certainly not humiliated. Sinwar has already become a myth, a figure much bigger than the person himself," he added.
Chosen as Hamas’s leader in Gaza in 2017, Sinwar had previously been held in an Israeli prison for 22 years before being released as part of a prisoner swap in 2011.
He succeeded Ismail Haniyeh as the top leader of the movement following the former's assassination by Israel in Tehran in 31 July.
Israeli and Western reactions
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel’s war on Gaza is “not yet over” despite Sinwar’s death.
Israel has been conducting a war on Gaza since October last year, killing more than 42,000 Palestinians, the vast majority of them women and children.
Israel's army chief Herzi Halevi vowed to keep fighting until Israeli captives are released and "all" militants involved in the 7 October operation" captured.
On Thursday, US President Joe Biden hailed Sinwar's killing as a "good day" for the world, claiming it also removed a key obstacle to a Gaza ceasefire and captives deal.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee in November's US election, claimed that the Hamas leader's death was a chance to "finally end the war in Gaza."
Western leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and Germany's foreign minister Annalena Baerbock, adopted the same rhetoric, claiming that there was now an opportunity to advance a deal.
As mediators in the conflict between Hamas and Israel, Egypt, the US, and Qatar have consistently failed to get Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept proposals for a ceasefire and capitves deal.
Reactions in the Arab and Muslim world
Sinwar was celebrated in much of the Arab world as a martyr who died fighting alongside his men. No official statements have yet been released by Arab or Islamic governments.
In Gaza, civilians received the news of Sinwar’s alleged death with sadness and pride. According to an Al Jazeera reporter, they noted that his death does not signify the end of the conflict.
“Sinwar is the only leader who said no to Israel, but his death does not mean stopping the war. Israel targets every child, woman and man in Gaza, and not just Sinwar,” said Hamza al-Kurd, 50, who was displaced from the north of Gaza to a makeshift camp in Deir Al-Balah.
“He was killed on the battlefield, engaged and fighting for his people and his land,” Salah Musleh, 30, told the Qatari TV.
Failed the Israelis once more
In an interview with CNN, the Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative, Mustafa Barghouti said "What happened is not compatible with what the Israeli side is saying."
"The Israelis were looking for a picture of victory, but Sinwar gave them a different image, and the distribution of photos of his body - which is unacceptable by all terms- had revealed that he was fighting," Barghouti said.
He added that contrary to what Netanyahu claimed, Sinwar was neither hiding in a tunnel nor using Palestinian civilians or Israeli captives as human shields.
Barghouti, a once presidential hopeful, said these images make Sinwar look like a "hero." "One more time Sinwar has failed the Israelis," he retorted.
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