Report: Israel is investigating possibility of killing Hamas leader in latest attack

Israel is investigating the possibility that Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, was killed in one of the recent air strikes, an Israeli media report said on Sunday.

According to a report in the Times of Israel, Israeli authorities are investigating the possibility that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is dead based on military intelligence, said journalist Ben Caspit.

“The Walla news site notes that the Shin Bet has denied the report and believes Sinwar is alive. According to intelligence information examined, Sinwar was killed during IDF operations in Gaza,” the news report continued.

The Times of Israel added that journalist Caspit concluded that Sinwar may not be dead yet, given his past, as he had disappeared after previous attacks and speculation about his death was rife.

On Saturday, Palestinians said an Israeli attack killed at least 22 people at a school for displaced people in southern Gaza City, while the Israeli military claimed the attack targeted a command center of the militant group Hamas.

The military said it hit a Hamas command center in the former school complex and repeated allegations that the group was using civilian facilities for military purposes. Hamas denies this.

Seven people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Sunday at a school housing displaced families in Gaza, Palestinian health officials said.

However, the Israeli military insisted that it had targeted militants operating from the site.

The attack hit the Kafr Qasem school in the Beach Camp at around 11 a.m. (08:00 GMT), the officials said. Among those killed was Majed Saleh, the director of the Hamas-run Ministry of Public Works and Housing, they added.

The attack and other reported violence from Gaza came amid a wave of attacks further north between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah forces across the Lebanese border – a parallel conflict that had fuelled fears of wider unrest in the region.