New details emerge of Sinwar's final moments

New details have emerged of the firefight in which Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed.

At 10:00 a.m. yesterday, a soldier from the 450th Battalion of the Bislamach Brigade noticed a suspicious figure going in and out of a building in Rafah’s Tel Sultan neighborhood, The Times of Israel has learned. He informed the battalion commander, who ordered forces to open fire on the building.

At around 3:00 p.m., a drone saw three figures exiting the building, trying to move from house to house. Two of the figures moved in front, clearing the way for the third.

The IDF opened fire again, injuring the terrorists. Two went into one building, and a third — who would turn out to be Sinwar — went alone into a separate structure. IDF tanks and other forces opened fire on both buildings, ToI has learned.

Sinwar then moved up to the second floor. A tank fired another shell at the building, and an infantry platoon moved up to search. Sinwar threw two grenades, one of which exploded. The soldiers withdrew, and a drone flew in to search the room. It found a man with his arm injured and his face covered — Sinwar — who threw a wooden stick at the drone. Another tank shell was fired at the man.

This morning, troops searching the building looked at the face of the slain terrorist whom the drone had spotted, and noticed that he resembled Sinwar. The Shin Bet took DNA and fingerprints in order to verify his identity. No hostages were with Sinwar at the time.

(The IDF’s Bislamach Brigade had replaced the Givati Brigade in Rafah. The commander of the Bislamach Brigade’s 450th Battalion — the unit that killed Sinwar — had been injured on October 7 when he rushed to the Gaza border with his troops, some of whom were killed.)

Meanwhile, Hebrew media has just aired a recording of one of the soldiers involved in the killing of Sinwar. He says that the IDF struck the building that Sinwar was in with a missile and then sent a drone in to confirm that he had been killed. At this point, he confirms, the troops didn’t know that the terrorist they were targeting was Sinwar.

When the drone arrived inside the demolished building, a face-covered Sinwar tried to hurl an object to try and bring it down. At this point, additional fire was directed at Sinwar that killed him, the soldier says.

Only after soldiers arrived at the scene in person this morning did they realize that the terrorist they killed was Sinwar, this soldier confirms.