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NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 17: A handful of Israeli supporters gather at the Israeli Consulate to celebrate the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar on October 17, 2024 in New York City. Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was reportedly killed in a firefight in Gaza on Thursday. Israel's Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, confirmed the news in a message to his international counterparts. Sinwar, believed to have orchestrated the deadly attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023, had assumed leadership of Hamas following the assassination of the group's former leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in July. David Dee Delgado/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by David Dee Delgado / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
The Israeli army said the bodyguard of slain Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar was killed by its forces in Southern Gaza on Friday, close to where the militant leader died two days earlier.
“Today (Friday), Mahmoud Hamdan was eliminated by the IDF (military) during an encounter with IDF troops, approximately 200 meters (yards) from the spot where Sinwar was eliminated,” the army said in a statement.
It said that Hamdan was responsible for guarding Sinwar and was also the commander of Hamas’s Tal al-Sultan Battalion.
The announcement comes a day after the military said it killed Sinwar during a firefight in southern Gaza’s Rafah on Wednesday.
Israel has long accused Sinwar of masterminding the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
That attack resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures that includes hostages killed in captivity.
Militants also took 251 people hostage during the attack. Ninety-seven remain in Gaza, including 34 who Israeli officials say are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 42,500 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to data from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures which the UN considers reliable.
AFP.
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