More details on the ignominious death of Sinwar
From the British press:
A unit from the IDF’s 828th Bislamach Brigade was patrolling Tal al-Sultan, an area of Rafah, on Wednesday morning, when it came across a group of three Hamas fighters in the street and engaged them in a firefight.
The terrorists were ‘on the run’ moving from house to house, the IDF said, and became split up.
One of them, since identified as Sinwar, ‘ran alone into one of the buildings’. He went up to the second floor, and troops responded by firing a tank shell in his direction.
So – if that account is correct – it explains how Sinwar was originally identified as a terrorist, and why he ended up alone in the building where he ultimately died. Apparently he and the other two had been on the move.
Grenades were thrown at the IDF troops (it’s not clear from where), and then they decided to send a drone into the building into which the man later identified as Sinwar had gone. That’s how we got that amazing drone footage of him sitting in a chair, with a hand wounded from the gun battle in the street, looking at the drone and throwing something at it that appeared to be a stick.
And then:
Two 120mm tank shells slammed into the building, as well as a surface-to-surface Matador missile, according to Israeli reports, with shrapnel scything across the upper floors and killing Sinwar.
Unaware they had taken out Israel’s prime target, the soldiers did not return to the site until Thursday morning, when soldiers from the 450th Infantry Battalion were sent in to get a closer look.
So there was a delay, and then a different unit was the one that uncovered the body and recognized that it could be Sinwar. Also:
He was found with a weapon, a flak jacket and 40,000 shekels (£8,250).
‘Yahya Sinouar had a lot of cash and fake passports on him, he was ready to flee,’ Israeli army spokesman Colonel Olivier Rafowicz told French outlet CNEWS this morning.
He claimed that the items Sinwar had on him, which allegedly also included a card from UNRWA, the UN aid for Palestinian refugees, ‘may show that he was ready to flee and leave Gaza and his men behind.’
During his many years in Israeli prisons, Sinwar learned to speak fluent Hebrew. He could have fled to Israel, perhaps, and organized something horrific there. There are other possibilities as well, of course – Iran or Qatar come immediately to mind. But the shekels are interesting.
The details of Sinwar’s death are sordid and ignominious, far from glorious. That makes it harder for Hamas to present him as some sort of hero. I continue to wonder what percentage of Gaza’s population is rejoicing at the news. Israel has offered evidence that at least some people were happy. And then there’s this:
An opinion poll published in mid-September by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR), a think tank based in Ramallah and funded by Western donors, showed for the first time the majority of Gazans opposed the decision to attack Israel on October 7.
The poll, conducted in early September, found that 57% of people surveyed in the Gaza Strip said the decision to launch the offensive was incorrect, while just 39% said it was correct – down sharply from the previous poll in June.
Hamas has long been accused of crushing dissent in Gaza with beatings or worse. But recent months have seen some rare public displays of dissent.
This isn’t evidence of any newfound love of Israel. But it’s still an important thing if most Gazans come to think that the war against Israel was a bad move, and that it is they who have suffered a result, and will suffer from any future such aggression on their part.
Would like that Left Ear as a souvenir, but would settle for the right one.
There’s a saying or quote about being judged by how well you enemy can fight—can’t find it now so maybe I imagined it. Lots of similar quotes but not the one was looking for…
‘Anyway‘, hate to see a murderous man begging for his lift – Sinwar looked to have more than a hand wound, as his right shoulder and arm looked lifeless. Hunched over ‘n looking weak—maybe another wound elsewhere, but still managed to gather enough strength to grab a stick and toss it at the drone.
OK—would settle for a tooth…
During his many years in Israeli prisons, Sinwar learned to speak fluent Hebrew.
–neo
Arabic and Hebrew are relatively close as languages. Knowing one is a leg up to learning the other.
Both share the same right-to-left writing system (as opposed to left-to-right as in English and Romance languages) though the scripts are different enough that it’s not a slam-dunk to go from one to the other.
I saw some news video that claimed that Sinwar left the tunnel system because Israel had destroyed and cut off so much of it that the tunnel system was no longer safe to hide in. For escape, tunnels to Egypt were no longer a viable option, so escape had to be aboveground.
Some Instapundit commenter quoted Jack Nicklaus: “The more I practice, the luckier I get.” That is, while the killing of Sinwar was serendipity from a grunt soldier, all the IDF efforts to target Sinwar, damage the tunnel system, and go after Hamas combatants aboveground led to his killing. No effort, no killing.
The poll, conducted in early September, found that 57% of people surveyed in the Gaza Strip said the decision to launch the offensive was incorrect, while just 39% said it was correct – down sharply from the previous poll in June.
==
It would help the Arabs on the West Bank and Gaza if they developed an allergy to magical thinking. Not happening yet.
Art Deco
Polls also indicate that support for the October 7 attack has been consistently higher in the West Bank than in Gaza. As a consequence of Israeli attacks on Hamas combatants, Gazans have seen the mass destruction of their dwellings. Unsurprisingly, this has acted as an impediment to magical thinking. The West Bank is intact compared to what it was a year ago. It’s a lot easier to support the October 7 attacks if your dwelling hasn’t been destroyed as a consequence of Israeli response to October 7.
So tal al sultan is right on the border with egypt so my conjecture of where he has been hiding might have been right
Did he come in from the tunnels from the street why was there such a small cadre around him
The camp had been struck about four months ago
All thats left is where are those remaining hostages
Incorrect
Gaza 57%
West Bank 21%
Correct
Gaza 39%
West Bank 64%
Much easier to support Hamas if you don’t have any skin in the game, such as your dwelling.
https://www.pcpsr.org/sites/default/files/Poll%2093%20English%20press%20release%2017_Sept2024.pdf
Two conjectures: 1)losing support.
2) A large cadre would attract more Israeli attention.
I vote for 2.
So much for the ” blaze of glory”. A rather grubby end.
Where has he been since he was spotted in the tunnels eight months ago
The west bank has not be the subjecf of an offensive since 21 in large part
I’ve seen written somewhere Miguel that the IDF had closely held bits of evidence that Sinwar was with the six executed hostages a few weeks ago; that he’d been spooked at near approach by IDF and fled, giving the execution order then.
Though there was talk about the dna left by the triggermen, who were subsequently hunted down and killed, there were only whispers about Sinwar’s presence in that tunnel, no shouting about it. That would stand to reason though, as not the sort of thing the hunters wanted to broadcast.
Apparently he then disappeared for this intervening time; there simply isn’t much detail of the intel picture available yet, if it ever comes out.