Inside the Accidental Rafah Encounter That Led to the Elimination of Yahya Sinwar

Two years after the elimination of Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind behind the October 7 massacre, three commanders who took part in the battle of Rafah have recounted the accidental encounter that ended with the death of the Hamas leader. The operation began not with precise intelligence, but with a suspicious figure, footprints dubbed 'Citroën' due to their sole pattern, a grenade thrown at the troops, and a drone that captured the final moments of Israel's most wanted man.

The operation took place on October 16, 2024, when battalion forces were conducting defense tasks in Rafah. A soldier and a deputy company commander spotted a suspicious figure moving between destroyed buildings in the Tel Sultan neighborhood. Initially, the commanders considered wrapping up the sweep, but a gut feeling prompted them to press on. Footprints led them to the militants, triggering an intense firefight and the deployment of infantry forces, including reservist Captain A., who noticed fresh blood on a staircase shortly before a grenade was thrown from the floor above.

Unbeknownst to the troops at the time, the man who hurled the grenade and later attempted to strike a surveillance drone with a stick was Yahya Sinwar. Following tank fire on the building, the forces secured the area without entering to check identities. It was only the next day, when drone footage of the eliminated militant was reviewed, that commanders realized the striking resemblance to the Hamas leader. Subsequent verification confirmed his identity, sparking profound emotional reactions among the soldiers, many of whom had personal ties to the victims of the October 7 attacks.

The commanders emphasized that while luck played a part, the decisive factor was persistence, vigilance, and uncompromising military values. The chance encounter in a ruined building in Rafah thus brought a definitive end to the manhunt for the architect of the devastating massacre.