LEILA FADEL, HOST:
The Israeli military says it's checking the possibility that its troops have killed the leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar. Israeli authorities have not yet confirmed his killing, but if confirmed, this could be a turning point in the Gaza war. Sinwar was believed to be the architect behind the attack on Israel on October 7 and was Israel's most wanted man in Gaza. NPR's Daniel Estrin is in Tel Aviv and joins me now. Hi, Daniel.
DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE: Hi, Leila.
FADEL: So what do we know so far?
ESTRIN: Well, the Israeli military has said that three militants were killed in a building and that authorities are looking into whether one of them was the Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar. I spoke with an official who is familiar with the matter - who spoke on condition of anonymity - to speak more and give more details. And that official said that the militants were killed yesterday in an Israeli firefight in south Gaza and that the body in question has been brought to an Israeli lab, and they are doing a DNA check now to see if it matches the DNA of the Hamas leader.
Now, there have been images circulating online - unconfirmed images showing a body under rubble, and this body's face appears perhaps similar to Sinwar's, but those images are unconfirmed. NPR did reach out to a senior Hamas official and asked whether Sinwar was killed, and the official said no comment.
FADEL: If this is confirmed, just how significant would the killing of the Hamas leader be?
ESTRIN: It would be extremely significant. He was, as you mentioned, Israel's most wanted man in Gaza, the mastermind, we believe, of the October 7 attack on Israel. He changed history for Israelis and for Palestinians, and he was calling the shots in this war. He approved a hostage release deal back in November, and he was the man who Israel was hoping would agree to a cease-fire deal - Israel and many all around the world. He was the man.
Now, it's unclear if Sinwar was targeted specifically here or if the Israeli army simply happened to kill a group of militants and only after the fact are now checking to see if it was Sinwar. But his - if true, if he is killed, this would be a major turning point and with a lot of open questions about where this war goes from here.
FADEL: If he's confirmed dead, what does it mean for Hamas? Does this mean it's decimated? Is there a clear successor here?
ESTRIN: It does not mean that Hamas is decimated. Hamas still has civilian control of many parts of Gaza, and Hamas is still fighting in a guerrilla-style warfare against Israel in other parts of Gaza. Hamas has lost a lot of its capabilities - its military capabilities and lost much of its top leadership in Israeli attacks throughout the past year, including its political leader in an assassination in Iran.
There is no clear successor, Leila. And what we do know is that Sinwar was or is - has always been a hard-liner. And Israeli analysts speculated that he had not been eager to reach a hostage release deal and a cease-fire deal. And so we'll have to see if there is a new leader for Hamas, if he is more pragmatic.
FADEL: Could it mean the end of the war - his killing - if it's confirmed?
ESTRIN: We still don't know yet. A lot of consequences we cannot predict, but there are a lot of questions. First of all, will Hamas or others seek to avenge his death? What is the fate of Israeli hostages believed to still be in tunnels in Gaza alive? Will their lives be in danger now?
FADEL: That's NPR's Daniel Estrin from Tel Aviv. Daniel, thank you for your reporting.
ESTRIN: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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