How Yahya Sinwar's cancer treatment helped Israel identify his body
What's the story
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind behind the deadly October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, was killed by Israeli forces on October 16.
Sinwar's attack killed over 1,200 people and abducted 251 others.
He was killed during an unexpected encounter with Israeli troops from the Bislach Brigade in southern Gaza.
The Israeli troops were on a mission to find senior Hamas members when they exchanged gunfire with three suspected militants, one of whom was Sinwar.
Encounter details
Sinwar's death and identification
Sinwar tried to escape into a damaged building but was eventually killed after tank shells and a missile were fired at the building.
A mini drone recorded footage of an injured man slumped in a chair, who was later identified as Sinwar.
The soldiers initially didn't realize they had killed Sinwar and left.
When they returned the next day, they found a body resembling him but didn't move it fearing booby traps.
Identification process
Medical records aid in confirming Sinwar's identity
Instead, they removed part of a finger for testing in Israel.
Sinwar's identity was confirmed through dental records and fingerprints from his time imprisoned in Israel from the late 1980s to 2011.
He had developed a brain tumor while in prison and underwent surgery by an Israeli surgeon, leaving behind extensive medical records that helped in his identification, The Atlantic reported.
Medical background
Sinwar's medical history and its role in identification
According to a Jerusalem Post article from June, Dr. Yuval Bitton treated Sinwar in a prison clinic in 2004, saving his life with a brain tumor diagnosis.
Bitton was working as a dentist at Nafha Prison when he met Sinwar, who was serving four life sentences for the kidnapping and murder of two Isareali troops.
Sinwar had reportedly come to the doctor complaining of neck pain and a loss of balance.
Medical
He could have died, said doctor who helped Sinwar
"When he explained to me what was happening to him...we decided to take him to hospital," Bitton said.
"He arrived at the hospital, the diagnosis was that he had an abscess in the brain, and he was operated on that day, thus saving his life," he added.
Sinwar never completed his sentences after being released as part of a 2011 prisoner-hostage swap.
Thirteen years later, Bitton's nephew was killed by terrorists on October 7 in an attack planned by Sinwar.