On Thursday, the Israeli military released drone footage purportedly showing Yahya Sinwar in a building located in Rafah. The video captures a man, identified by the Israeli military as Sinwar, seated in a chair moments before what the military describes as his “elimination.”
Though the footage has been edited, it appears to show the man, covered in dust, watching the drone for about 20 seconds before tossing an object, possibly a stick, at it. The identity of the individual in the video has not been independently verified by The New York Times.
The setting shown in the video aligns with photographs obtained by The Times, depicting the body of a man who bears a strong resemblance to Sinwar. The room in the drone footage shows new damage, likely from an explosion, visible in the later photos. In those images, the deceased man is seen wearing a green kaffiyeh similar to the one worn by the man in the video.
This location is on the second floor of a residential building in Rafah’s Tel al-Sultan neighborhood in southern Gaza. Earlier the same day, the Israeli military released additional footage showing Israeli soldiers in the area following Sinwar’s death. The Times confirmed that this footage was recorded near the same house in northern Rafah.
Recently, Israeli military operations in the Rafah neighborhood have increased. Footage from September shows soldiers patrolling the area from a nearby military outpost, passing by the house where Sinwar was later killed, though it’s unclear if he was inside the building during that earlier patrol.
