Israel DNA-testing body from Gaza to see if it's Hamas' top leader Yahya Sinwar
Deir al-Balah (Gaza Strip), Oct 17: The Israeli military said on Thursday it was looking into whether Hamas' top leader Yahya Sinwar was killed in a military operation in Gaza. Authorities were conducting DNA tests on a body to determine if it is him, an Israeli security official said.
The military said in a statement that three leaders were killed during operations in Gaza, without specifying where or elaborating further. It said the identities of the three were so far not confirmed, but it was “checking the possibility” that one of them was Sinwar.
The security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, said the tests on the body had not yet confirmed if it was Sinwar's.
There was no immediate comment by Hamas on the report.
Sinwar was one of the chief architects of Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and Israel has vowed to kill him since the beginning of its retaliatory campaign in Gaza.
If confirmed, Sinwar's death could be a heavy blow to the Hamas group. He has been Hamas' top leader inside the Gaza Strip for years, closely connected to its military wing while dramatically building up its capabilities.
Sinwar was chosen as Hamas's top leader after his predecessor, Ismail Haniyeh, was assassinated in July in an apparent Israeli strike in the Iranian capital Tehran. Israel has also claimed to have killed the head of Hamas' military wing Mohammed Deif in an airstrike, but the group has said he survived.
President Joe Biden has been briefed on Israel's investigation into whether it killed Sinwar, and US officials have been in close contact with Israeli officials throughout Thursday morning, according to a senior administration official.
The report came as Israeli forces continued a more than week-old major air and ground assault in the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza. On Thursday, an Israeli strike hit a school sheltering displaced Palestinians, killing at least 15 people, including five children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
Fares Abu Hamza, head of Gaza Health Ministry's local emergency unit, said dozens of people were wounded. He said the nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital was struggling to treat the casualties.
“Many women and children are in critical condition,” he said.
The Israeli military said it targeted a command centre run by Hamas and Islamic Jihad inside the school. It provided a list of around a dozen names of people it identified as members who were present when the strike was called in. It was not immediately possible to verify the names.
Israel has repeatedly struck tent camps and schools sheltering displaced people in Gaza. The Israeli military says it carries out precise strikes on group and tries to avoid harming civilians, but its strikes often kill women and children.
Israel launched its campaign in Gaza to eliminate Hamas after the group stormed into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250 others. Some 100 captives are still inside Gaza, about a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel's offensive has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. It does not differentiate between civilians and combatants but says women and children make up a little more than half of the fatalities.
Northern Gaza was the first target of Israel's ground invasion nearly a year ago and has suffered the heaviest destruction of the war, with entire neighbourhoods in Gaza City and other towns reduced to rubble.
Most of the population fled after Israel issued evacuation orders in the opening days of the war, but about 400,000 are believed to have remained despite the harsh conditions.
Earlier this month, Israel once again ordered the full-scale evacuation of the north, and allowed no food aid to enter the area for around two weeks. That led many Palestinians to fear that it had adopted a surrender-or-starve strategy suggested by former Israeli generals.
Israel allowed two shipments of aid to enter the north earlier this week after the United States warned it might reduce its military aid if its ally did not do more to address the humanitarian crisis.
Since the start of the conflict, Israeli forces have launched repeated operations into Jabaliya, a densely populated urban refugee camp dating back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation. The military says Hamas members have repeatedly regrouped there after major operations.
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Sabarimala Tantri 'trapped' in gold loss case: Cong; CPI(M) alleges he is among 'big thieves'
Thiruvananthapuram/Kannur (PTI): The arrest of Sabarimala Tantri Kadararu Rajeevaru in the gold loss case triggered a fresh war of words in Kerala on Sunday with the opposition Congress alleging that the chief priest was "deliberately trapped" in the case, while the ruling CPI(M) said he figured in a "list of big thieves".
The recent observation by the Kollam Vigilance Court that there was no iota of evidence against Rajeevaru in the case led to fresh political debate in the state, with opposition parties targeting the state government.
Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala alleged that the Tantri (chief priest) was "deliberately trapped" in the gold loss case and suspected political intervention behind his arrest without any evidence.
Addressing a press conference here, he claimed that the Special Investigation Team (SIT), probing the case, was controlled by the Chief Minister's Office and Rajeevaru was arrested to prevent the investigation reaching some "big shots".
Chennithala alleged that the SIT failed to comply with the directions issued by the Kerala High Court and did not conduct a proper probe into the alleged conspiracy behind the case.
Though the tantri is a person who is revered as the father of Lord Ayyappa, he was arrested and jailed for 41 days without any evidence, he said.
The Kollam Vigilance court, which had granted bail to the tantri, clearly stated that there was no iota of evidence against him. "So, we should assume that the Sabarimala tantri was deliberately trapped in the case. It is clear that there was a political intervention to arrest the tantri," he alleged.
He further alleged that though there was clear evidence to arrest certain "big shots", no action has been taken so far in this regard.
The tantri was arrested and jailed to divert the course of the investigation and to ensure that it does not reach Devaswom Minister V N Vasavan and former minister Kadakampally Surendran, he said.
He also accused former Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) president P S Prasanth of "committing serious lapses" in connection with the gold loss issue. But, he was questioned secretly and let go, he said.
The decision to sabotage the SIT probe was taken at a higher level after the ruling LDF had suffered a massive drubbing in the recent LSGD polls, he alleged.
People of the state would give a befitting reply to what he termed as "political misuse" of the case.
CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan rejected the Congress allegations and asserted that no one involved in the matter would be protected.
Speaking to reporters in Kannur, he said the SIT probe is yet to be completed and claimed that Congress leaders also have a role in the alleged gold theft.
He alleged that certain political parties were attempting to use the issue to target the CPI(M) and the state government, adding that "news becomes news only when it is against the CPI(M) and the government, but not when it is against the BJP or the Congress."
Responding to the allegations that the arrest of Rajeevaru was linked to his opposition to women's entry at the hill shrine, Govindan said the tantri figures in the "list of big thieves" and asserted that no one involved in the matter would be protected.
The law would take its own course, he said, adding that not "a speck of gold" from Sabarimala should go missing.
Asked about the court observations granting bail to Tantri, state Law Minister P Rajeev said there were some unusual aspects involved in it.
"If a High Court division bench has observed that the investigation is proceeding in the right direction, it is not usual for a lower court, while considering a bail plea, to make observations that appear like a final verdict in the case," he told media in Kochi.
He said such powers can be exercised by the Supreme Court.
"While reading the order, those with a basic understanding of law may feel that the Vigilance Court has adopted an approach akin to that of the Supreme Court,” the minister further said.
Rajeev further said that unlike in other cases, the state government was not exercising any supervisory role in the matter and that decisions such as whether to file an appeal against the bail order did not come before the government.
“The High Court division bench is monitoring all aspects related to the case," he said adding that reports on the progress of the investigation and that regarding each arrest in the case had been submitted before it by the SIT.
The vigilance court in Kollam on Wednesday granted bail to Rajeevaru in the cases related to alleged misappropriation of gold from the Lord Ayyappa shrine.
Rajeevaru is the 16th accused in the case related to the loss of gold from the Dwarapalaka (guardian deity) idols and 13th accused in the case pertaining to the loss of the precious metal from the door frames of the Sreekovil (sanctum sanctorum).
