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On October 17, 2024, media reports said that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had likely killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar during a strike in Rafah, Gaza. Photos of a corpse resembling Sinwar have been circulating online as the IDF conducts DNA tests to determine if it was him.
Sinwar has led Hamas operations in Gaza since 2017 and he is believed to be the key architect of the October 7, 2023 attack in which Palestinian militants killed 1,200 people in Israel. He was appointed Hamas leader in August 2024 following the assassination in Tehran of Ismail Haniyeh. While some jihadi Telegram outlets, including those affiliated with Iran-backed militias dismissed the news, others eulogized him.
Hamas-Linked Channel: Fake News
A pro-Hamas Telegram channel warned that the "news about the assassination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is completely false," adding that the Israeli "occupation's circulation of this news is an attempt to collect intelligence information as it had previously done with leader Muhammad Deif, please be careful."
A Telegram channel linked to Iran-backed Iraqi militias, cited the warning by the other channel, describing the latter as a source very close to Hamas.
Hizbullah-Linked Telegram Channel: He Was Fighting Not Hiding
A Telegram channel affiliated with Lebanese Hizbullah's elite Al-Ridhawan unit shared a post praising Al-Sinwar's "heroic" death, saying he was killed while he was fighting, not hiding. "Who would have thought that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar would be carrying his rifle, wearing his quiver, and fighting in a combat zone, in Tel Al-Sultan in Rafah? All the previous Israeli narratives, about him being in a tunnel taking shelter with prisoners, or hiding in the tents of displaced people, or fleeing to Egypt have fallen flat. Sinwar was a fighter who refused to even be removed from Gaza even when he was given guarantees. This is a suffering defeat [for Israel]," said the post.
Iraqi Hizbullah Brigades-Linked Outlet: If True, He Was Killed Fighting Next To Other Soldiers
A Telegram channel linked to the Iraqi militias, published a poster eulogizing Sinwar that read: "The great jihadi leader Yahya Sinwar – Abu Ibrahim, a martyr on the road to Al-Quds.."
Shortly after, the channel shared posts based on the photos circulating online thought to be Sinwar's body, saying that he was killed "advancing, not retreating, wearing the garb of his war."
It added: "The Zionist enemy claims to have killed Hajj Yahya Sinwar – may his terror continue – [Israel] published pictures of him claiming that he was martyred while fighting among his soldiers and clashing with the enemy army south of Gaza."
Questioning his killing, the channel wrote: "Although we have not yet adopted the enemy's narrative, but if it is true, then glory to Abu Ibrahim [i.e., Sinwar], you said it and you were right, let it be the second battle of Karbala.You were martyred while fighting among your soldiers like [Imam] Hussein on the tenth of Muharram."
The channel argued that publishing photos showing his body was "the best service that the Zionist enemy army has provided to Sinwar" because they show that the leaders of the resistance were fighting next to their soldiers on the battlefield.
It concluded by noting that supporters should wait for the official statement from Hamas, which will confirm or deny Sinwar's death.
Salafi Jihadi Cleric: May Allah Accept Him Among The Martyrs
A London-based pro-Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) jihadi cleric, who had in the past criticized Sinwar, a Sunni, for allying with Shi'ite Iran, eulogized Sinwar on his Telegram channel: "May Allah have mercy on Yahya Sinwar, and we ask Allah to accept him among the martyrs... Despite our ideological and methodological disagreement with him, we supported him in his fight against the Zionists and we empowered him... and we strongly disagreed with him on everything related to the axis of heretics [i.e., the Axis of Resistance]. May Allah have mercy on him and accept him among the martyrs."
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