hello, i'm matthew amroliwala. let's start with major breaking news from the middle east. the israeli military says it may have killed the hamas leader, yahya sinwar, in a military operation in gaza. it said it was checking the identity of three people it called terrorists, one of whom may be the hamas leader. sources have told the bbc there is a growing assessment that he has been killed but dna tests are being conducted. yahya sinwar is seen as the chief architect of the october the 7th attacks on israel last year. he was widely reported to have been hiding in the group's network of tunnels surrounded by hostages to deter an israeli strike. the idf said thursday's operation was on a building where there was no sign of israeli hostages. our correspondent in

jerusalem is wyre davies. just give us the latest you are hearing. just give us the latest you are hearinu. , . .,, hearing. there is increasing evidence — hearing. there is increasing evidence and _ hearing. there is increasing evidence and confidence - hearing. there is increasing evidence and confidence in| evidence and confidence in israel that yahya sinwar has indeed been killed in this military operation in southern gaza. absolute forensic proof has not either being gathered or revealed in the media, but across the israeli media and some military sources say they are increasingly confident they have got the man who was the most wanted person in gaza, israel's number one target, yahya sinwar, the 61—year—old accused of organising and directing the october the 7th attacks last year when thousands of armed troops streamed across the board and killed 1200 people in israel and took 250 hostages back into gaza and since then yahya sinwar has been a marked man and it is thought he was hiding

and it is thought he was hiding and moving in southern gaza, but no one had been able to get to him thus far. it does appear now that there is confidence that the israelis feel he has been killed in a confrontation with israeli troops.— been killed in a confrontation with israeli troops. dna tests are being _ with israeli troops. dna tests are being carried _ with israeli troops. dna tests are being carried out, - with israeli troops. dna tests are being carried out, but - with israeli troops. dna tests| are being carried out, but how significant a moment would it be if it is confirmed? it significant that he is the leader of hamas and has been the absolute leader since the assassination of ismail haniyeh earlier in the summer and was always the leader in gaza and a hardline figure who had previously spent 20 years in an israeli jail and was somebody who favoured direct, armed confrontation with israel rather than diplomacy. so that he has been killed is a very significant moment. it does not mean that the war in gaza is over. earliertoday mean that the war in gaza is over. earlier today we saw israel's continued military

operations in the north of gaza which israel said they killed several hamas and palestinian ian islamicjihad fighters but also a lot of civilians were reportedly killed an attack on a school compound so that fighting is still very much going on in northern gaza and if the death of yahya sinwar is confirmed it does not necessarily bring about that. although the americans have called this a game changers and it will severely undermine hamas's leadership ability, and they have other leaders in charge and they still have a significant if somewhat diminished military capability remaining in gaza itself. it is being celebrated in israel. it is a holiday in israel today and there were some amazing scenes from the beach in tel aviv earlier today when somebody on a tannoy announced the death of yahya sinwar and crowds on the beach started cheering and people were celebrating, so the israelis have taken it as good news. one caveat, and it is an important

caveat. it was assumed yahya sinwar surrounded himself with hostages, israeli hostages, as some sort of human shield as a protection, if you like, from israeli airstrikes. there were no israeli hostages reportedly found at the site where this body was found. that is one reason for some speculation that this may not be him and we will have to wait and find out. the hostage families of course have been asked about the news today and they will say that perhaps they welcome the news but one of them said to israeli radio, it's not over till it is over and we demand a ceasefire and the return of the hostages, so that is something to bear in mind. thank you very much for the latest. much for the latest. let's speak to our gaza correspondent rushdi abu—alouf who's in istanbul. what is your assessment of the news? , ., ' :: :: , _, , news? there is no 10096 converse

-- confirmation _ news? there is no 10096 converse -- confirmation from _ news? there is no 10096 converse -- confirmation from hamas - news? there is no 10096 converse -- confirmation from hamas and | —— confirmation from hamas and we have not heard from hammers at all and i've been trying for the last two hours since news of the killing of yahya sinwar emerged to contact any of the hamas officials but no one is answering their phone. even though some of the leaders are here, they are not answering their phones, but the hamas propaganda machine and some of the actors and journalists close to hamas, we started to see some signals on their facebook posts and twitter account talking about the possibility that this picture might belong to yahya sinwar. some of his people who supported him within this propaganda machine were saying he was not surrounded with israeli hostages as israel always tries to say. he was fighting until the last moment and wearing palestinian clothing and holding his gun and he was fighting until the

last moment. it will still need to be confirmed by hamas, because he is the overall leader, and newly elected just two months ago when ismail haniyeh his predecessor was killed in tehran and hamas decided to have employed him as the new hamas leader. i was there trying to know who was there trying to know who was the leader and one of the hamas people told me he was the man behind the 7th of october attack and deserved to be the leader of hamas. it is significant and very early to judge the mood in gaza, for those who are against hamas equally blame them for a long year of warand equally blame them for a long year of war and they might be feeling some little relief, and

there is some hope that the killing of yahya sinwar might be the last page in this long war in which two or 3 million people in gaza are still suffering because of the decision that yahya sinwar talk october to carry out this attack on israel. so many people in gaza have expressed their feeling people in gaza have expressed theirfeeling but people in gaza have expressed their feeling but they equally blame hamas for it. find their feeling but they equally blame hamas for it.- blame hamas for it. and of course we _ blame hamas for it. and of course we are _ blame hamas for it. and of course we are still- blame hamas for it. and of course we are still waiting l blame hamas for it. and of i course we are still waiting for more of the official detail of what and how and where this actually happened. but in terms of yahya sinwar himself, he was obsessed with security and safety. obsessed with security and safe . , , ., , safety. yes, even before this war i met — safety. yes, even before this war i met yahya _ safety. yes, even before this war i met yahya sinwar - safety. yes, even before this war i met yahya sinwar on i safety. yes, even before this l war i met yahya sinwar on four different occasions and there were always two or three layers of security. people would would come and check and they would

travel in two or three cars, carrying the same number, and he was always somebody surrounded by very tight security situations, and since the war nobody in gaza or outside have seen any picture since the october the 7th attacks of ya hya since the october the 7th attacks of yahya sinwar. there was some report from hamas that he was labour —— able to go and talk to hamas officials during the brief ceasefire but we've not seen any evidence of him and it was suggested that he might be hiding in a tunnel somewhere. i have been talking to many people across the gaza strip and nobody knows seems to know any information about where the assassination took place. there were a small bit of information about an airstrike in rafa, in the western part, but this is the only indication that it might be the place where the

assassination took place but still no confirmation. we will leave it there, _ still no confirmation. we will leave it there, and _ still no confirmation. we will leave it there, and thank - still no confirmation. we willj leave it there, and thank you very much for the latest where you are. with me is our security correspondent, frank gardner. we will talk about the leader he was and some of the history, but tell me a little more about the circumstances you are hearing. the circumstances you are hearing-— the circumstances you are hearing. the circumstances you are hearinu. . ,., , ., hearing. there are reports that on the circumstances - hearing. there are reports that on the circumstances here, - hearing. there are reports that| on the circumstances here, and it's not definitely confirmed yet as tests are being carried out to confirm it was him, but the body in question was found in a building that had come under israeli tank fire, so something called the a50th battalion of the israel defence forces fired on a building where they suspected hamas gunmen were operating and then foot shoulders, infantry, went into search the building and thatis into search the building and that is where they came across some who they now suspect could

be the body of yahya sinwar. in which case, it's not really a pure assassination in the purest sense, that this was an accidental stumbling across somebody who has been their number one target for a long time. so, extraordinary, really, because everybody assumed until now that yahya sinwar would be almost certainly down in the tunnels, beneath gaza, surrounded by living israeli hostages, to try and secure his own safety. and yet, this person was found above ground, in a building, somewhere in southern gaza, quite near rafa and they didn't expect to find him, so this was rather different from the killing of osama bin laden, where they knew exactly which building he was in and some years later in syria. in those cases, most targeted assassinations, whether it is

the americans or the brits or the americans or the brits or the israelis, whoever, they tend to have very precise and exact information but that doesn't appear to be the case in this instance.— in this instance. that is exactly _ in this instance. that is exactly what _ in this instance. that is exactly what the - in this instance. that is| exactly what the former in this instance. that is - exactly what the former idf spokesman who i was talking to in the last hour was telling us. he was saying his contacts told him that in a sense they just got lucky and stumbled across him, is exactly as you are hearing. and i amjust reading that presidentjoe biden is currently being briefed as israel checks to see if it is the hamas leader who has been killed, and that has come from a white house official. as you expect, the americans being kept in close contact. tell me more about the man himself. he had an iron grip in terms of what was happening inside of gaza, and by all accounts the architect of what happened on october the 7th. ., ., , , a, of what happened on october the 7th. ., ., , a, ., 7th. yeah. he has been sort of the number — 7th. yeah. he has been sort of the number one _ 7th. yeah. he has been sort of the number one person - 7th. yeah. he has been sort of the number one person that i 7th. yeah. he has been sort of. the number one person that the israelis wanted to get, either 1531 00:11:59,240 --> 00