Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar dead? Israel probes possibility as 3 militants eliminated

The Israel Defense Forces eliminated three unidentified terrorists during an ongoing operation in Gaza, an official statement said. The forces suspect that one of the deceased terrorists could be Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar.

The IDF and ISA are probing the possibility. At this stage, the identity of the terrorists cannot be confirmed.

The military said in a statement on Thursday that three militants were killed during operations in Gaza, without elaborating.

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It said the identities of the three were so far not confirmed, but it was “checking the possibility” that one of the three was Sinwar.

As per the statement, there were no signs of the presence of hostages in the building where the terrorists were killed. The forces that are operating in the area are continuing to operate with the required caution," says the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

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For the unversed, Sinwar was one of the chief architects of Hamas' deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. He was chosen as the group's top leader following the assassination of Ismael Haniyeh in July in an apparent Israeli strike in the Iranian capital Tehran.

Earlier today, the Israeli military launched a strike on a Gaza-based school and killed at least 15 people, including five children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.

The Israeli military said the strike targeted dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants who had gathered at the Abu Hussein school in Jabaliya, an urban refugee camp in northern Gaza.

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In a separate development, a building in central Beirut, where the offices of international media network Al Jazeera are located and the Norwegian Embassy was evacuated after a warning.

Mazen Ibrahim, Al Jazeera's Lebanon bureau chief, said the building’s administration received three calls telling everyone to leave the building, which he said houses the embassies of Norway and Azerbaijan, as well as dozens of offices. He said it was unclear who called in the warning.

Norwegian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ragnhild Simenstad said the building was evacuated after a “bomb threat,” without elaborating.

(With inputs from AP)

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