Caught by chance Fluke led to Hamas leader's killing, not hi-tech manhunt

In the end, after a year-long, multi-agency manhunt involving the latest technology, Israel's best special forces and American assistance, Yahya Sinwar appears to have been killed by regular soldiers who had stumbled into him and had no idea whom they had killed.

- Julian Borger

According to the initial reports, they were not there on an assassination operation and had no prior intelligence that they could be in the vicinity of the elusive Hamas leader, architect of the 7 October attacks, the man Israel most wanted to kill. It was only after they took a closer look at his face and found identity documents on him that the troops realised they had got Sinwar.

Along the way, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have smashed much of Gaza and are estimated to have killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, driving 2 million from their homes, a humanitarian disaster set in motion with the initial surprise assault that Sinwar led a year ago, killing 1,200 Israelis and taking 250 hostage.

Sinwar's last reported sighting had been just a few days after the 7 October attack, when he appeared out of the subterranean gloom of a Gaza tunnel where a group of hostages were being held.

In fluent Hebrew, perfected in his years in an Israeli prison, Sinwar reassured them they would soon be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners. One of the hostages, Yocheved Lifshitz, an 85-year-old veteran peace campaigner from the Nir Oz kibbutz, had no time for his show of concern for their welfare.