A man who had gone into cardiac arrest and been declared brain dead woke up as surgeons in his home state of Kentucky were in the middle of harvesting his organs for donation, his family has told media outlets.
As reported Thursday by both National Public Radio and the Kentucky news station WKYT, the case of Anthony Thomas “TJ” Hoover II is under investigation by state and federal government officials. Officials within the US’s organ-procurement system insist there are safeguards in place to prevent such episodes, though his family told the outlets their experience highlights a need for at least some reform.
Hoover’s sister, Donna Rhorer, recounted how Hoover was taken to Baptist health hospital in Richmond, Kentucky, in October 2021 because of a drug overdose. Doctors soon told Rhorer and her relatives that Hoover lacked any reflexes or brain activity, and they ultimately decided to remove him from life support, as WKYT noted.
The staff at Baptist then reportedly told Rhorer and her family that Hoover had given permission for his organs to be donated in the event of his death. To honor his wishes, the hospital tested which of his organs would be viable for donation, and the facility even had a ceremony honoring him.
Rhorer said she noticed Hoover’s eyes open up and seemingly track his loved one’s movements, according to WKYT. “We were told it was just reflexes – just a normal thing,” she said to the outlet.
“Who are we to question the medical system?”
About an hour after Hoover had been brought into surgery for his organs to be retrieved, a doctor came out and explained that Hoover “wasn’t ready”.
“He woke up,” Rhorer said.
Rhorer recalled getting instructions to bring her brother home and make him comfortable, though he likely would not live much longer. As she said to WKYT, she has been caring for Hoover for the past three years.
WKYT reported that Rhorer only learned the full details of her brother’s surgery at the hands of Baptist and the Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates (Koda) in January. That’s when a former employee of Koda contacted her before sending a letter to a congressional committee that in September held a hearing scrutinizing organ-procurement organizations, NPR reported.
The letter’s author said she saw Hoover begin “thrashing” around on the operating table as well as start “crying visibly”, according to NPR.
In response to the accounts relayed by Rhorer to WKYT and NPR, Baptist health said in a statement that patient safety was its “highest priority”. “We work closely with our patients and their families to ensure our patients’ wishes for organ donation are followed,” the hospital’s statement said.
Koda issued its own statement to NPR maintaining that Hoover’s case “has not been accurately represented”, that the organization has never collected organs from live patients and that no one there has ever been pressured to do so. A statement to WKYT from the Network for Hope organization, which Koda joined in May, said groups like theirs are “not involved in patient care … do not declare death … [and] only have the authority to proceed with organ donation recovery after a patient’s independent healthcare provider has declared death”.
Nonetheless, WKYT and NPR reported that the state’s attorney general’s office as well as a federal agency that helps oversee organ procurement are investigating Hoover’s case.
NPR made it a point to say that some observers worry that the media attention Hoover’s case has drawn could undermine an organ-transplant system with a waiting list of more than 100,000 people. A professor of medical ethics with whom NPR spoke said all indications are that cases like Hoover’s are generally “one-offs that hopefully we’ll be able to get to the bottom of and prevent from ever happening again”.
But Rhorer defended her decision to go public with Hoover’s story, saying it would be worth sharing if it could “give one other family the courage to speak up or if it could save one other life”.
“He made … attempts to say: ‘Hey, I’m here,’ but it was kind of ignored,” Rhorer said to WKYT. “They finally stopped the procedure because he was showing too many signs of life.
“In my heart of hearts, I knew something went on, but I compared it to David and Goliath. Who am I to go up against the medical system?”
Your editorial (15 October) lamented the “dismaying” decline in wild salmon in British waters, commenting rightly that climate change and failures of marine conservation have contributed to this collapse. Another significant contributing factor has been the explosive growth, enthusiastically promoted by the Scottish government, in salmon farming around the Scottish coast. This activity has been shown to be damaging to wild salmon stocks, through the transmission of disease and parasites when farmed salmon escape, as they do in large numbers, from the nets that contain them.
The day after your editorial, you ran an article on the “gifts” being declared by Labour ministers (More ministers declare gifts after Keir Starmer’s decision to repay £6,000, 16 October). These include a declaration by Ian Murray, the Scottish secretary, that he accepted £320 of tickets to a football match in Liverpool in September thanks to Salmon Scotland. He was in Liverpool to meet the chief executive of the industry body that describes itself on its website as “the voice of the Scottish salmon sector”.
Accepting tickets to Taylor Swift concerts may seem arrogant, but at least she isn’t lobbying for anything. Accepting “gifts” from organisations that are seeking to influence your decisions is surely of a different order? Lindy Sharpe London
The pollution caused by intensive rearing of farmed salmon is trashing the ecosystems of some of our most beautiful lochs and rivers. The vast number of salmon in these farms increases the rate of disease and necessitates the use of antibiotics and chemical treatments. And the farmed fish are easy prey to millions of sea lice, which eat them alive. Then, in turn, the lice prey on the young of the wild fish that have bred upstream and are attempting to pass those farms to go out to sea – and also, as adults, to migrate upstream and spawn. If we care about what we eat, and we want to see salmon leaping in British rivers again, we need to stop eating farmed salmon. Kathleen Roberts Harrogate
Salmon stocks have been declining for years and there are myriad reasons for this. Your editorial gives the impression that the principal causes are due to the lack of enforcement of regulations in our rivers by government agencies and the criminal activity of water companies. It is certainly true that poor water quality, pollution, changing flow patterns and warming river water temperatures due to climate change and other reasons are significant contributory factors to the decline in salmon numbers. However, it is believed that the most significant reason for the decline is the vast drop in returning numbers from the sea. It is not properly understood what is causing such significant mortality at sea, but changes in the marine food chain driven by climate change, and illegal or uncontrolled fishing along the salmon migration routes are significant factors.
What is to be done? Enforcement of regulations on land and sea, and halting climate change can in the long run of course make a difference, but our salmon may become extinct in many of our rivers before we sort out our act. A more immediate difference could be made by the Environment Agency urgently getting behind the establishment of hatcheries on many of our rivers to substantially increase the number of smolts heading for the sea. Michael Robins Richmond, London
Your editorial, though welcome, repeats a tired trope: that “they” are responsible, be “they” water companies or farmers or industrialists. Equally damaging to aquatic ecosystems are the gallons of household cleaning products, garden chemicals and cosmetics that we all flush down our drains daily, all of which pass unmitigated through sewage treatment plants. If we are to save our rivers and the beautiful salmon, readers of the Guardian are going to have to change their habits. Michael Heaton Warminster, Wiltshire
As an ecologist working for a statutory nature conservation body, I’m encouraged by the interest in the UK’s appalling water quality shown in your editorial. However, I am becoming frustrated by the intense focus on this single issue rather than looking at our wildlife more widely.
Your editorial explains that salmon populations and riverine quality reveal something about failed stewardship and flouted regulations. It does. But at least their condition and the flouting of these regulations are well known.
Rivers and salmon are a snapshot of the UK’s habitats and species, but sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs) are designed to act as a series representing our whole range of wildlife: not just rivers. These are failing too. Wales has published data showing that the health of half of these SSSIs isn’t even known. At a UK level, this lack of information isn’t even reported as the headline indicator only looks at sites that have been monitored. For most habitats and species, we only have part of the picture due to a lack of monitoring.
You highlight that regulations exist for water quality, but they are poorly enforced, and this is the same for SSSIs. I know of SSSIs that haven’t been visited in the last 20 years. They haven’t been monitored, and they certainly haven’t been regulated. People are more aware of water quality issues and recognise and report them. Most SSSIs cannot be accessed and their management and condition cannot easily be assessed.
I really do welcome the coverage of water quality and understand the use of salmon as a flagship species, but maybe the time has come for the media to take a wider picture? Name and address supplied
South Korea’s intelligence agency said on Friday that North Korea had dispatched troops to assist Russia in its war against Ukraine, a development that could intensify the standoff between North Korea and the west.
In a statement on its website, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) said Russian navy ships transferred 1,500 North Korean special operation forces to the port city of Vladivostok between 8 and 13 October who were now undergoing training.
“The North Korean soldiers … are expected to be deployed to the frontlines as soon as they complete their adaptation training,” the agency said, adding that more North Korean troops were expected to be sent to Russia soon.
NIS said North Korean soldiers were given Russian military uniforms and Russian-made weapons and were issued with fake ID cards of residents of Yakutia and Buryatia, two regions in Siberia.
“It appears that they disguised themselves as Russian soldiers to hide the fact that they were deployed to the battlefield,” the agency said.
The NIS also published satellite and other photos showing what it calls Russian navy ship movements near a North Korean port and suspected North Korean mass gatherings in the past week in the far-eastern Russian cities of Ussuriysk and Khabarovsk.
The statement was the most comprehensive official report to date detailing North Korean involvement in Russia’s war in Ukraine. If proved accurate, it would amount to North Korea’s first major participation in a foreign war.
Additionally, South Korean media said on Friday, citing anonymous sources, that Pyongyang had decided to dispatch a total of 12,000 troops, formed into four brigades, to Russia. The NIS did not immediately confirm these reports.
The statements come a day after Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said his country had intelligence reports that 10,000 North Korean soldiers were preparing to enter the war. “This is the first step to a world war,” he told reporters in Brussels.
On Friday the Ukrainian foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, demanded an “immediate and strong reaction” from Kyiv’s allies. “Russia seriously escalates its aggression by involving DPRK [North Korea] on a war party scale,” he said. “We require an immediate and strong reaction from the Euro-Atlantic community and the world.”
Russia has denied using North Korean troops in the war. A Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, dismissed the claims at a media conference last week as “another piece of fake news”.
The Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, said on Friday that the alliance could not yet confirm South Korean intelligence that North Korea was deploying large-scale troops.
The Guardian earlier revealed that North Korean military engineers had already been deployed to help Russia target Ukraine with ballistic missiles.
A source in Ukraine said: “There are dozens of North Koreans behind Russian lines, in teams that support launcher systems for KN-23 missiles.”
If confirmed, South Korean intelligence suggests that North Korea plans to engage in the war beyond merely sending military advisers. The extraordinary move also highlights Russia’s need to find new military personnel, amid reports of record casualties.
North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, and Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, who first met in 2019, have been seeking greater military and economic cooperation to counter their growing international isolation prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programmes. In June, the two leaders signed a pact that includes a clause requiring the countries to come to each other’s aid if either is attacked.
Pyongyang is estimated to have provided about half the larger-calibre ammunition used on the battlefield this year, more than 2m rounds, a Ukrainian source said. It also provided KN-23 missiles, which were used in dozens of strikes across Ukraine last winter, Ukrainian media reported.
In return for its missiles and other military hardware, North Korea is thought to be seeking Russian cash as well as help with its spy satellite programme, which has had embarrassing failures over the past two years.
Time after time, Shaâban al-Dalou, a 19-year-old software engineering student living in Gaza, nearly escaped death. He began studying at Gazaâs al-Azhar University two months before it was destroyed in November by a US-made bomb dropped by Israeli forces.
Shaâban posted videos to social media, describing how his family â which he took care of, as the eldest of five â was displaced five times by the assaults and asking for financial support to flee to Egypt.
On 6 October, another US-supplied bomb blew up a mosque, killing 20 people and burying Shaâban beneath rubble. Against all odds, he was dug out and saved, and went to seek treatment at the al-Aqsa hospital for his many injuries. There he built his family a tent to shelter together.
Then, on Monday morning, Israeli forces dropped another US-supplied bomb just outside the hospital, and 30 tents, including Shaâbanâs, were set ablaze. People held back his 16-year-old brother as he watched Shaâban, still attached to an IV, and his mother, aged 38, burn alive. It was all caught on video.
Hours later, 500 Jews and friends shut down the New York Stock Exchange, the epicenter of global capital, demanding the US stop arming Israel and stop profiting from genocide. In horror and agony over the US-funded slaughter of Palestinians, and this most recent news of Shaâbanâs murder, we chanted âstop arming Israel, let Gaza live,â as cops arrested over 200 of us, dragging elders and descendants of Holocaust survivors out by our arms and legs.
Day after day over the past year we have witnessed the Israeli military commit heinous crimes, bombing hospitals and mosques, slaughtering more children than any other war in recent years and forbidding the entry of humanitarian aid. The commissioner for the UN Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) has called it âa war on childrenâ.
Although the world is crying out for the horrors to stop, Joe Biden and the US Congress continue to send weapons and money, totaling more than a staggering $18bn since last October.
Everyone has the same question: why is the US â and a Democratic administration at that, which is trying to win an election â still arming Israel when itâs carrying out what the international court of justice (ICJ) has deemed plausible genocide, while violating the USâs own laws?
The Biden administration wants you to believe that the reason they are funding the Israeli military is out of a commitment to Jewish safety. This is the moral cover they use, a cloak for their collaboration in heinous war crimes.
As Jews, we reject this myth with every fiber of our beings. Together, with tens of thousands of American Jews who have spent the last year protesting for an end to the slaughter, we refuse to let our histories, identities and traditions be used as the justification to massacre Palestinians.
The true interest of the US government? Control of the region and is its own financial gain.
Over the past year of Israelâs relentless bombing that has killed at least 46,000 Palestinians, including at least 16,500 children, with the true death toll probably much higher, the stock prices of leading US weapons manufacturers have been soaring.
Their bottom line is boosted by the fact that the only condition placed by the US government on its $18bn slush fund for the Israeli military, is not on how those bombs may be used, but instead on how they must be bought.
Israel is stipulated to purchase from US weapons manufacturers. In turn, two such leading corporations, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, have posted staggering record-breaking returns.
Meanwhile, at least 50 members of Congress or their spouses are owners of their stock. While they should be voting based on the will of their constituents, they have profits to gain from voting to send billions of dollars in military funding to Israel while it carries out a genocide.
The reason I am alive today is because the day that my entire family was massacred in their shtetl in Lithuania, in another genocide â the Holocaust â my grandmother just happened to be away.
I grew up aware that I am not supposed to be here. I also grew up agonizing over these questions. Where were the neighbors? Why did they just stand by? Why didnât they hurl their bodies between the killers and my family?
As the NYPD dragged me by my arms and legs out of the New York Stock Exchange, I felt all of my Jewish ancestors at my back, the one who survived and all those who didnât. We say now, with more conviction than ever before: we refuse to be neighbors who just stand by.
Shaâban should have celebrated his 20th birthday today. In one of the most urgent tasks of our lifetimes â stopping our government from continuing to arm Israel â we all have a role to play.
Elena Stein is director of organizing strategy for Jewish Voice for Peace, the largest anti-Zionist Jewish organization in the world and currently the fastest-growing Jewish organization in the country.
Labour is using its first animal welfare policy since entering government to dilute standards by legalising the harmful practice of carrying chickens by their legs, charities have said.
European transport regulation 1/2005, which still applies in the UK, prohibits lifting chickens by their legs on farms and during loading and unloading, but the government is going to change the law to permit the widespread but illegal method, according to the Animal Law Foundation.
This comes despite the animal welfare committee of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) having previously said that it caused distress and injuries such as fractures and dislocations.
Edie Bowles, the executive director at the Animal Law Foundation, said: “It is shocking that the Labour government has chosen a dilution of welfare protections as its first animal welfare policy. It is especially surprising given it is the first dilution of an EU animal welfare protection since Brexit.
“The British people do not want this. They want animal welfare standards high and enforced. The decision to legalise the inhumane handling of chickens in the UK is a stark reminder of the lack of care for animal welfare at the highest level.”
During and after the Brexit campaign, leaving the European Union was repeatedly framed as an opportunity to strengthen the UK’s animal welfare standards. During the general election campaign, the environment secretary (then shadow), Steve Reed, said: “The Conservatives are on the side of animal cruelty. Labour will end it.”
Despite the EU regulations, the government had until recently argued that it was not illegal to handle chickens by the legs and Defra’s codes of practice explicitly permitted “leg-catching”.
However, the Animal Law Foundation threatened Defra with legal action, prompting the government to concede that carrying chickens by their legs was currently prohibited. At the same time it informed the charity that it would be changing the law so that it was no longer forbidden.
Kipster, a Dutch poultry farm that produces carbon-neutral eggs, has calculated that the additional cost of handling chickens upright is €0.0004 (£0.0003) per egg.
Sean Gifford, the executive director of the Humane League, said: “Chickens are thinking, feeling animals. Some are shy, some are playful, and they all want to live their lives free from harm. Grabbing them by their legs, which are often already sensitive and painful due to being bred to grow so quickly to maximise profit, then carrying them upside down, causes intense suffering.
“This outrageous decision by the government will ensure that millions of animals continue to needlessly suffer and is completely at odds with Labour’s pledge to introduce the biggest boost in animal welfare for a generation.”
The Humane League will be at the court of appeal on Tuesday to challenge the government for allowing fast-growing broiler chickens, known as “Frankenchickens”, which suffer a wide range of health problems. The high court rejected the initial challenge last year.
Some of the most common types of PFAS may cause sleep disorders in young adults, new research finds, and the study’s authors for the first time identified how the chemicals probably impact the brain to cause disruptions.
The peer-reviewed University of Southern California (USC) study looked at PFAS levels in the blood of adults between 19 and 24 years old, and found those in the highest one-third slept an average of about 80 fewer minutes nightly than those in the lowest third.
For PFOS, a common compound, high blood concentrations were linked strongest to problems falling asleep, staying asleep, waking up or feeling tired during waking hours.
“Because the body needs sleep every day, if PFAS might be interfering with your sleep, that may affect you more immediately than other chronic health issues,” said Shiwen Li, the study’s lead author and a postdoctoral researcher at USC.
PFAS are a class of about 15,000 chemicals typically used to make products that resist water, stains and heat. They are called “forever chemicals” because they do not naturally break down, and they accumulate in humans and the environment. The chemicals are linked to cancer, kidney disease, liver problems, immune disorders, birth defects and other serious health problems.
PFAS are also increasingly linked to neurological diseases, including Alzheimer’s, anxiety disorders and ADHD, though the study’s authors say epidemiological studies are needed to provide a clearer picture of brain impacts.
However, the study found very strong evidence of why the chemicals could affect sleep quality. Its authors checked a panel of proteins – the products of the blueprints inscribed in genes – from participants’ blood samples, and found seven genes that are probably activated by PFAS that seem to influence sleep.
Among those are a gene that converts cortisol to cortisone, a stress response hormone that also regulates sleep cycles.
“There’s a very strong biological pathway that we’re seeing – it’s not just observational,” Li said.
The chemicals also probably affect sleep, and potentially cognitive function and memory, because they target the cathepsin B gene. High levels of the resulting enzyme have been linked to cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s, which is also thought to stem from sleep disorders.
While the study found PFOS, one of the most common and toxic PFAS compounds, had the strongest links to sleep disruption, high levels of mixtures were also found to cause problems.
Previous research has found PFAS can probably cross the blood-brain barrier and disrupt the levels of neurotransmitters, like dopamine, glutamate and serotonin, and calcium homeostasis, which are all important for sleep health.
Meanwhile, a recent Chinese study of more than 4,100 pregnant women and their infants found the chemicals seemed to cause sleep disturbance, lower sleep efficiency, and shorter sleep duration across three trimesters for mothers and, after birth, for their children.
There is little that those with higher levels of PFAS in their blood can do beyond to avoid potential exposures via common routes like drinking water, food or household consumer products.
Some PFAS have a half-life – or the amount of time it takes to remove half the chemicals from a person’s blood – of several years, meaning it can take decades for the body to expel the highest levels. The research highlights the need for stronger regulations, the paper states.
“The problem is PFAS is a group of thousands of compounds so there should be discussions about regulating them as a chemical class,” Li said.
An orphaned koala joey named Ajooni being fed by wildlife caregiver Emma Meadows in Sydney, Australia. There are between 95,000 and 524,000 koalas left in the country, possibly down from millions before European settlement. Expanding cities, land clearance and the spread of chlamydia are all devastating the populations of one of the country’s most iconic animals
Donald Trump laid into Kamala Harris and other Democrats on Thursday in a pointed and at times bitter speech as he headlined the annual Al Smith charity dinner in New York. The Republican nominee repeatedly criticised his Democratic campaign rival over her decision to skip the event â a break with presidential electoral tradition, as she prioritised campaigning in the swing state of Wisconsin, rather than New York, a safe Democratic state. Harris recorded a video that was played instead.
Trump questioned the mental fitness of Harris and the president, Joe Biden, commented on second gentleman Doug Emhoffâs extramarital affair during his previous marriage, and made jokes about transgender people. The dinner was emceed by the comedian Jim Gaffigan, who portrays the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, Tim Walz, on Saturday Night Live.
Harris, in her pre-recorded remarks â which featured the comedian and actor Molly Shannon, who reprised her long-running Saturday Night Live character Mary Katherine Gallagher, an awkward Catholic school pupil â mocked Trump for lying, a sin, about the results of the 2020 election, and comments he made in Michigan, saying that mocking Catholics in the video would be âlike criticising Detroit in Detroitâ.
Hereâs what else happened on Thursday:
Kamala Harris election news
A poll has revealed that Harris continues to lead Trump among Black likely voters in battleground states. The poll, conducted by Howard Universityâs Initiative on Public Opinion from 2 October to 8 October, surveyed 981 Black likely voters in the states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The results show that 84% of respondents said they planned to vote for the vice-president, while only 8% said they would support Trump for president in November, and another 8% remained undecided.
With three weeks left, Harris is spending most of her days trying to shore up support in the âblue wallâ states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin as she tries to avoid a repeat of Hillary Clintonâs collapse there eight years ago. Her schedule reflects the Democratic nomineeâs focus on her most likely path to victory over Trump. Harris visited Milwaukee on Thursday seeking support from college-age voters. She dropped by a business class at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and held a student rally at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, closing out the day with a rally in Green Bay.
The Democratic governors of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin this week embarked on a swiftly organised bus tour, rolling through the autumn landscape to press the urgency of the case for Harris in must-win states where some Democrats worry she is struggling. Gretchen Whitmer, Josh Shapiro and Tony Evers descended on Flint on Thursday afternoon, joined by the chairman of the national Democratic party, Jaime Harrison.
Harris and Walz will attend churchon Sunday in the battleground states of Georgia and Michigan. Harris will also sit down for an interview with the Rev Al Sharpton that will air on Sunday night on his MSNBC programme, according to a Harris campaign official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss schedule details not yet officially announced.
Donald Trump election news
Donald Trumpâs transition team is reportedly preparing a blacklist of potential officials to be banned from a future administration, with special emphasis placed on those with links to the radical Project 2025 plan to overhaul the US government. The former presidentâs eldest son, Donald Jr, is spearheading the drive to compile the list of barred staffers, according to Politico, citing a former official in the first Trump administration.
Trump was joined at the Al Smith event by his wife, Melania, who has been an infrequent presence on the campaign trail. The white-tie dinner raises millions of dollars for Catholic charities and has traditionally offered candidates from both parties the chance to trade lighthearted barbs, poke fun at themselves, and show that they can get along â or at least pretend to â for one night in the electionâs final stretch.
Gaffigan referenced allegations that the Trump Organization in the 1970s discriminated against Black renters in its buildings.âIf vice-president Harris wins this election, not only would she be the first female president, a Black woman would occupy the White House, a former Trump residence,â Gaffigan said. âObviously you wouldnât be renting to her. I mean, that would never happen anyway. Maybe if Doug did the signing.â
Elsewhere on the campaign trail, a Nevada man who was arrested with guns at a security checkpoint outside a Trump rally in the southern California desert has filed a lawsuit accusing the sheriff of falsely characterising his arrest as a thwarted assassination attempt, for the sheriffâs own personal gain.
The Republican vice-presidential candidate, JD Vance, falsely told a reporter on Wednesday that there were âserious problemsâ in the 2020 election and suggested that the then president, Donald Trump, did not actually lose the race. âDid Donald Trump lose the election? Not by the words that I would use,â Vance said in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. âBut look, I really couldnât care less if you agree with me or disagree with me on this issue.â
Other election news:
The Nevada Democratic US Senator Jacky Rosen and Republican challenger Sam Brown painted each other as extremists on Thursday night in the presidential battleground state where the election could determine control of both the White House and the Senate. The election pits Rosen, a first-term senator seen as a political consensus-builder, against Brown, a retired army captain who bears scars from battlefield injuries and is endorsed by Trump.
Senior Democrats in US cities are preparing to defend their communities in the event of Donald Trumpâs return to the White House after the former president repeated threats that he would use presidential powers to seize control of major urban centres. Trump has proposed deploying the military inside major cities largely run by Democrats to deal with protesters or to crush criminal gangs. He has threatened to dispatch large numbers of federal immigration agents to carry out mass deportations of undocumented people.
Iran says manner of Sinwar’s death will strengthen ‘spirit of resistance’
Iranâs mission to the UN has said the circumstances of Yahya Sinwarâs death will strengthen the âspirit of resistanceâ.
Sinwar was apparently killed while fighting Israeli forces in Rafah, rather than hiding in a bunker as Israel had consistently portrayed him.
A still from a drone video of Yahya Sinwar’s final moment. Photograph: IDF | X
The Israeli military posted drone footage of the Hamas leader, apparently having lost part of his arm, sitting in an armchair wearing battle fatigues and a keffiyeh in a ruined apartment in Rafah. As he watches the drone, he throws an object at it.
It said in a statement posted on X, the Iranian UN mission said:
When US forces dragged a disheveled Saddam Hussein out of an underground hole, he begged them not to kill him despite being armed. Those who regarded Saddam as their model of resistance eventually collapsed.
When Muslims look up to Martyr Sinwar standing on the battlefield â in combat attire and out in the open, not in a hideout, facing the enemy â the spirit of resistance will be strengthened.
He will become a model for the youth and children who will carry forward his path toward the liberation of Palestine. As long as occupation and aggression exist, resistance will endure, for the martyr remains alive and a source of inspiration.
When U.S. forces dragged a disheveled Saddam Hussein out of an underground hole, he begged them not to kill him despite being armed. Those who regarded Saddam as their model of resistance eventually collapsed. However, when Muslims look up to Martyr Sinwar standing on the⦠pic.twitter.com/S1QUN47y83
Former Israeli peace negotiator Daniel Levy, who is now the president of the US/Middle East Project, has said the killing of Yahya Sinwar will not make an end to the war in Gaza more likely, as Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has âslammed shutâ any opportunity for a ceasefire. In an interview with Australiaâs ABC broadcaster Levy said:
âHe made it quite clear that the war on Gaza, on the Palestinians there, would continue and he set down a condition which everyone who hears this will immediately understand is not a negotiating, achievable thing, by saying that âif Hamas fighters want to come up with their hands up wave a white flag and give back the hostages then we can move forwardâ.
He said to the people of Gaza âwe are freeing youâ â those are the same people all of whom essentially have been displaced, many living under conditions of starvation, 40,000 killed, everything destroyed.
What he is setting down there is a position that, if anyone thought a crack had appeared, an opening to maybe say âmission accomplished, letâs do the deal, letâs also bring the Israelis homeâ â that was slammed shut straightaway despite American attempts to say âhey thereâs an opportunity hereâ.
Unfortunately itâs been slammed shut in everyoneâs face by the Israeli prime minister.
Charles Lister, an academic at the US-based Middle East Institute, suggests that Yahya Sinwarâs killing could make the situation of the remaining hostages âextremely fragileâ.
In a post on X he wrote:
There will be a Hamas desire for revenge.
Hostage families are rightfully putting pressure for a ceasefire already — but will Netanyahu listen? Unlikely.
With Yahya #Sinwar dead, the fate of the ~120 hostages currently in #Gaza has suddenly become extremely fragile. There will be a #Hamas desire for revenge.
Hostage families are rightfully putting pressure for a ceasefire already — but will #Netanyahu listen? Unlikely.
Unrwa chief Philippe Lazzarini has refuted reports that one of the UN bodyâs workers was killed alongside Yahya Sinwar. In a post on X he wrote:
Earlier today, reports circulated on social & Israeli media that an UNRWA staff member was killed together with the Hamas head in Gaza. I confirm that the staff member in question is alive.
He currently lives in Egypt where he traveled with his family in April through the Rafah border. Time to put an end to disinformation campaigns.
Once again, unchecked information is used to discredit @UNRWA & its staff.
Earlier today, reports circulated on social & Israeli media that an UNRWA staff member was killed together with the Hamas head in Gaza.
I confirm that the staff member in question is alive. Heâ¦
Israel has been at odds with the UN agency for decades, and Lazzarini has accused the Israeli government of trying to drive it out of existence.
Al Jazeera journalist shot by Israeli forces falls into coma
Al Jazeera journalist Fadi Al-Wahidi has fallen into a coma more than a week after being shot in the neck by an Israeli sniper in northern Gaza, the broadcaster has reported, adding that Israel has not responded to requests to allow his evacuation for medical treatment.
Al-Wadidi was wearing a vest that clearly marked him as a member of the press when he was shot last week while covering the Israeli siege of Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.
Doctors at the Public Aid Hospital in Gaza City said they were unable to treat him and prevent complete paralysis, Al Jazeera reported on Thursday. The broadcaster wrote that he had suffered damage to his arteries, veins and shattered bones.
The attack on al-Wahidi came days after his Al Jazeera colleague, cameraman Ali al-Attar, was shot and severely wounded while covering the conditions of displaced Palestinians in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.
Earlier this week three press freedom organisations â the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Free Press Unlimited (FPU), and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) â issued a rare joint appeal to Israel to allow the two journalists to be evacuated.
Palestinian scholar Jehad Abusalim condemned mainstream media for failing to offer solidarity to Al-Wahidi. In a post on X, he wrote:
It is a deep shame that a journalist who heroically documented one of this centuryâs most tragic episodes of ethnic cleansing and extermination receives no solidarity, no support, and no calls to save his life from major mainstream media outlets and institutions.
The world owes a debt to these journalists, who have risked their lives for over a year to cover one of the first wars in history where media coverage is tightly and severely restricted, with no international journalists allowed to enter or report from the Gaza Strip.
Today, the health condition of injured Palestinian journalist Fadi Al-Wahidi has deteriorated, and he has fallen into a coma.
Fadi was shot in the neck as he reported on the Israeli ground invasion of the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. He was wearing protective gear that⦠pic.twitter.com/9I9PFzR9xP
— Jehad Abusalim جÙاد أب٠سÙÙÙ (@JehadAbusalim) October 17, 2024
Who was Yahya Sinwar?
Jason Burke
Within days of the 7 October attacks last year, Israeli investigators had identified Yahya Sinwar, then the military leader of Hamas in Gaza, as the mastermind. To their increasing astonishment, they learned that not only had Sinwar conceived of what he called Operation al-Aqsa Flood but he had planned and organised the assault almost alone.
Only a handful of close aides had been let in on the plans, some with only days to go before the attack, in which about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 250 abducted, and which triggered an Israeli offensive that has so far killed 42,500 people, also mostly civilians, and left swaths of Gaza in ruins.
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar attends a rally marking the 35th anniversary of the movement’s founding, in Gaza City in December 2022. Photograph: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters
Born in a refugee camp in Khan Younis, in the south of Gaza, to parents who had been forced to flee their homes in what became Israel in 1948, Sinwar was drawn into Islamist activism as a teenager. Across the Middle East, a religious resurgence was gathering momentum. As a science student at the Islamic University of Gaza in the early 1980s, Sinwar was drawn to Ahmed Yassin, a charismatic cleric who set up a local branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.
In 1987, Yassin drafted Sinwar into the newly created group Hamas and made him head of its nascent intelligence service. Duties included uncovering and punishing spies or other âcollaboratorsâ with Israel, as well as people in Gaza who infringed Hamasâs strict âmoralityâ codes. This Sinwar accomplished with implacable determination, confessing later to multiple murders of Palestinians.
Arrested in 1988 and given four life sentences for attempted murder and sabotage, he spent 22 years in Israeli jails. In prison, Sinwar refused to talk to any guards and personally punished inmates who did, pressing the face of one into a makeshift stove, according to one Israeli former interrogator who worked at the institution where Sinwar was held. âHeâs 1,000% committed and 1,000% violent, a very, very hard man,â the former interrogator said.
Read on below:
Many Palestinians reacting to the death of Yahya Sinwar have taken note of the fact that he died fighting. They have also noted that Israel has assassinated many generations of Palestinian leaders â but they have not managed to quash resistance, and new leaders have replaced the dead.
The prominent author SusanAbulhawa wrote in a post on X,
He died fighting on the front lines with his soldiers against zionist tyranny and barbarity. he was not hiding in a tunnel as they said. he certainly was not hiding in fortified buildings, comfortable in a suit and wealth. he died a martyr and hero in pursuit of freedom.
In a further post, she added:
They think the resistance dies with the martyrdom of leaders, as if the burning yearn for liberty, home and heritage in our chests can be extinguished when they break our hearts. farewell noble son.
Ali Abunimah, a Palestinian-American journalist and founder of the Electronic Intifada website, wrote that âhistory shows that martyrdom of leaders only ever strengthens the peopleâs determination to be free.â
In a separate post, he added:
If reports are correct, Yahya Sinwar died as he would wish, fighting honorably with and for his people, against the evils of Zionism, colonialism and genocide.
Israelis have been celebrating after news of Yahya Sinwarâs killing in Gaza:
People dance on the streets of Sderot, near Gaza. Photograph: Amir Cohen/ReutersIsraelis celebrate the news near Kibbutz Erez, southern Israel. Photograph: Tsafrir Abayov/APIsraeli soldiers give out food after the news of the death of Yahya Sinwar, at a checkpoint in Sderot. Photograph: Amir Cohen/Reuters
At least 28 Palestinians killed in Israeli strike on Gaza school
Bethan McKernan
At least 28 people have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on a school turned shelter in the Jabaliya neighbourhood of Gaza City, amid accusations Israel intends to forcibly expel the remaining population in a renewed ground campaign.
The bombing of Abu Hussein school in Jabaliya on Thursday killed 28, including doctors and several children, and injured dozens more, according to health officials, who warned the final toll was likely to be higher. Another 11 people were killed in two separate airstrikes in Gaza City, and it was unclear how many were killed in other strikes in central and southern Gaza.
Palestinians, including children, who were injured in an Israeli army attack on the Jabalia refugee camp, receive treatment at the Al-Ma’madan Ahli hospital in Gaza City on Thursday. Photograph: Mahmoud Issa/Quds Net News/ZUMA Press/REX/Shutterstock
The attack on the Jabaliya school also caused a fire. âThere is no water to extinguish the fire. There is nothing. This is a massacre,â said medic Medhat Abbas.
âCivilians and children are being killed, burned under fire.â
The Israeli military said the strike targeted militants from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operating from within the school, claiming dozens of fighters were present when the strike took place. In a statement, Hamas denied any militants were using the school as a base.
Thursdayâs attacks came as Israelâs latest campaign in Jabaliya, a district of Gaza City, reaches its second week. An estimated 400,000 people are trapped by the fighting, with dwindling humanitarian supplies. Israel has nominally controlled Gaza City since the beginning of the year, but has repeatedly been forced to re-engage in areas under its control as Hamas has regrouped.
Hezbollah launching ‘new and escalatory phase’ in war against Israel
Lebanonâs militant group Hezbollah has said it is launching a new phase in its war against Israel, saying it has used precision-guided missiles against troops for the first time. AFP reports:
Hezbollah âannounces a transition to a new and escalatory phase in the confrontation with the Israeli enemy, which will be reflected in the developments and events of the coming days,â the group said in a statement.
The announcement came after the Israeli military on Thursday said its forces killed Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, which is a Hezbollah ally.
The statement, however, made no mention of the Hamas chief.
It said âhundreds of fighters…are fully prepared to counter any Israeli ground incursion into southern Lebanese villages,â noting that attacks against Israel have increased in recent days.
It said its rocket strikes continue âto escalate day by day,â with âprecision-guided ones…being deployed for the first timeâ.
Israel killed Hezbollahâs leader Hassan Nasrallah in a Beirut air strike on 27 September. It has has repeatedly called for Hezbollah to be pushed away from the border to ensure its citizens could return to their homes in northern Israel.
Earlier on Thursday, Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said that the Israeli army was not fully in control of any village in south Lebanon.
The mother of one of the Israeli hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza has reacted to the news of Yahya Sinwarâs death by calling on prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a deal for their release.
Einav Zangauker, mother of Matan Zangauker, was quoted in the Haaretz newspaper as saying, âYou got your image of victory. Now reach a deal.â She added:
A year after the failure [on 7 October], this is the time to leverage the accomplishments and use [Sinwarâs] elimination to take a diplomatic step that will bring our loved ones back home …
If Netanyahu does not take advantage of the momentum and does not stand up now and take a new Israeli initiative, even at the cost of ending the war, it means that he has decided to abandon my Matan and the other hostages, with the aim of prolonging the war and entrenching his rule.
Einav Zangauker (R), mother of Matan Zangauker, at a protest calling for a hostage deal in Tel Aviv in February. Photograph: Susana Vera/Reuters
Drone footage shows apparent last moments of Yahya Sinwar
The Israeli military has released drone footage it says shows Hamas leader Yahya Sinwarâs final moments: alone in a ruined Gaza apartment with the walls blown out from shelling, sat hunched in a chair covered by dust, with his head and face obscured by a scarf.
With his right arm appearing severely wounded, the video shows Sinwar flinging a stick over his head in the direction of the approaching drone. The Guardian has not independently verified the footage.
Israeli army releases footage it says were Yahya Sinwar’s last moments before he was killed â video
When the footage was taken, Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said Sinwar was only identified as a fighter. The military then fired an additional shell at the building, causing it to collapse and kill him, Hagari said. He said Sinwar was found with a bulletproof vest, grenades, and 40,000 shekels ($10,707).
According to the Jerusalem Post, Hagari told reporters: âSinwar fled alone into one of the buildings. Our forces used a drone to scan the area, which you can see here in the footage Iâm presenting.â
âSinwar, who was injured in his hand by gunfire, can be seen here with his face covered, in his final moments, throwing a wooden plank at the drone,â he said.
âHe tried to escape and our forces eliminated him.â.
Hamas has not commented on the killing of Sinwar.
Photos circulating online showed the body of a man resembling Sinwar with a gaping head wound, dressed in a military-style vest, half buried in the rubble of a destroyed building.
Israeli officials said Sinwar was found by infantry soldiers searching an area in the Tal El Sultan area of southern Gaza on Wednesday, where they believed senior members of Hamas were located.
The troops saw three suspected militants moving between buildings and opened fire, leading to a gunfight during which Sinwar escaped into a ruined building.
Earlier on Wednesday, a Palestinian woman was reportedly shot dead by the Israeli military while she was picking olives with her family on their land near the northern West Bank city of Jenin.
The 60-year-old woman was shot in the chest with live ammunition, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported, citing the director of the Red Crescent Society in Jenin, Mahmoud al-Saadi.
A Palestinian health ministry statement said Hanan Abdel Rahman Abu Salama âwas killed by (Israeli) occupation bulletsâ in Faqoua village.
âAn Israeli in military clothing arrived at the place in a white car and fired about 10 bullets at the Abu Salama family, who were picking olives on their land,â Faqoua village councillor Munir Barakat told AFP.
Mourners carry the body of 60-year-old Palestinian woman, Hanan Salameh, who was shot dead by Israeli forces as she harvested olives with her family in the occupied West Bank. Photograph: Raneen Sawafta/Reuters
âA few days ago, the council published an invitation to the village residents to go to their agricultural lands to pick olives,â said Barakat.
He added that the shooting occurred near a wall erected by Israeli authorities in the area.
The Israeli military told AFP it was âcheckingâ the report.
Attacks by settlers and the Israeli military on Palestinians trying to harvest their olives have been particularly intense this year. UN experts this week warned that Palestinian farmers in the occupied West Bank were âfacing the most dangerous olive season everâ. In a report, it added:
Last year, Israel also seized more Palestinian land than in any year in the past 30 years.
Wafe reported that earlier on Wednesday settlers had also âopened fire on participants in an event organized by the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission to help farmers from the village of Kafr al-Labad, east of Tulkarm, pick olives from their landsâ.
In other incidents this harvest season, settlers and the military had burnt and cut down olive trees, stolen the crop and prevented farmers from reaching their land, Wafa wrote.
Israeli violence in the West Bank has soared since Hamasâs attack on Israel in October last year. Since then, Israeli troops and settlers have killed at least 738 Palestinians in the West Bank including more than 100 children, according to the Ramallah-based health ministry.
During the same period, 23 Israelis, including 16 members of the Israeli military, have been killed in the West Bank.
Analysis: Sinwar killing seems down to chance, not planning
Julian Borger
In the end, after a year-long, multi-agency manhunt involving the latest technology, Israelâs best special forces and American assistance, Yahya Sinwar appears to have been killed by regular soldiers who had stumbled into him and had no idea whom they had killed.
According to the initial reports, they were not there on an assassination operation and had no prior intelligence that they could be in the vicinity of the elusive Hamas leader, architect of the 7 October attacks, the man Israel most wanted to kill. It was only after they took a closer look at his face and found identity documents on him that the troops realised they had got Sinwar.
Along the way, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have smashed much of Gaza and are estimated to have killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, driving two million from their homes, a humanitarian disaster Sinwar set in motion with the sheer brutality of the initial surprise assault a year ago, killing 1,200 Israelis and taking 250 hostage.
Sinwarâs last reported sighting had been just a few days after the 7 October attack, when he appeared out of the subterranean gloom in a Gaza tunnel when a group of hostages were been held.
In fluent Hebrew, perfected over more than 22 years in an Israeli prison, Sinwar reassured them that they were safe and would soon be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners. One of the hostages, Yocheved Lifshitz, an 85-year-old veteran peace campaigner from the Nir Oz kibbutz, had no time for his show of concern for their welfare and challenged the Hamas leader to his face.
âI asked him how he wasnât ashamed to do something like this to people who had supported peace all these years?â Lifshitz told the Davar newspaper after her release following 16 days in captivity. âHe didnât answer. He was quiet.â
A video recorded on Hamas security cameras at about the same time, on 10 October, and found by the Israeli military some months later, shows Sinwar following his wife and three children through a narrow tunnel and disappearing into the murk.
Read more analysis here:
As the US pushes for a fresh round of diplomacy aimed at securing a ceasefire in Gaza, secretary of state Antony Blinken has been speaking to Qatari prime minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who has played a key role in negotiations.
In a statement after the phone call, the US state department said the pair had discussed âthe death of Yahya Sinwar and the need to redouble efforts to end the conflict and secure the release of hostagesâ.
Blinken also reaffirmed US commitment to a diplomatic resolution to Israelâs invasion of Lebanon.
In September the US had backed calls for a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon, but in the wake of the killing of the Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, appeared to greenlight Israelâs air and ground offensive.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after news of Sinwarâs death that âWe will not stop the warâ in Gaza.
Harris says Sinwar death ‘an opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza’
Robert Tait
Kamala Harris has hailed the death of Yahya Sinwar as an opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza and prepare for âthe day afterâ when Hamas no longer dominates the territory.
The US vice-president and Democratic nominee said âjustice has been servedâ with the death of the Hamas leader, adding that the US, Israel and the wider world were âbetter off as a resultâ.
Harris also pressed for an end to the year-long hostilities that have killed more than 42,000 people in Gaza and left a trail of destruction in the territory.
âHamas is decimated and its leadership is eliminated,â she said. âThis moment gives us an opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza.â The end of the conflict had to be accompanied by security for Israel, the release of the remaining hostages and an end to suffering in Gaza, she said.
She also hinted at her support for Palestinian statehood by saying it should herald Palestiniansâ rights to âdignity, security, freedom and self-determinationâ.
Her comments chimed with those of Joe Biden, who has been criticised by progressives for unstinting support for Israel even while Benjamin Netanyahu had ignored his entreaties to avoid civilian casualties and ease humanitarian suffering in the tiny coastal territory.
âIsrael has had every right to eliminate the leadership and military structure of Hamas,â Biden said in comments that appeared designed to answer criticisms of his support.
He said Sinwar had represented an âinsurmountable obstacleâ to a better future for Israelis and Palestinians. âThat obstacle no longer exists. But much work remains before us,â he said.
Biden said he would talk to Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders about âending this war once and for allâ.
Read the full story here:
Iran says manner of Sinwar’s death will strengthen ‘spirit of resistance’
Iranâs mission to the UN has said the circumstances of Yahya Sinwarâs death will strengthen the âspirit of resistanceâ.
Sinwar was apparently killed while fighting Israeli forces in Rafah, rather than hiding in a bunker as Israel had consistently portrayed him.
A still from a drone video of Yahya Sinwar’s final moment. Photograph: IDF | X
The Israeli military posted drone footage of the Hamas leader, apparently having lost part of his arm, sitting in an armchair wearing battle fatigues and a keffiyeh in a ruined apartment in Rafah. As he watches the drone, he throws an object at it.
It said in a statement posted on X, the Iranian UN mission said:
When US forces dragged a disheveled Saddam Hussein out of an underground hole, he begged them not to kill him despite being armed. Those who regarded Saddam as their model of resistance eventually collapsed.
When Muslims look up to Martyr Sinwar standing on the battlefield â in combat attire and out in the open, not in a hideout, facing the enemy â the spirit of resistance will be strengthened.
He will become a model for the youth and children who will carry forward his path toward the liberation of Palestine. As long as occupation and aggression exist, resistance will endure, for the martyr remains alive and a source of inspiration.
When U.S. forces dragged a disheveled Saddam Hussein out of an underground hole, he begged them not to kill him despite being armed. Those who regarded Saddam as their model of resistance eventually collapsed. However, when Muslims look up to Martyr Sinwar standing on the⦠pic.twitter.com/S1QUN47y83
Hello and welcome to the Guardianâs live coverage of Israelâs wars on Gaza and Lebanon.
Iran has said that the circumstances of Yahya Sinwarâs death will strengthen the âspirit of resistanceâ, after the Israeli military (IDF) confirmed it had killed the Hamas leader in the southern Gaza town of Rafah.
A drone video released by the IDF appeared to show Sinwar, apparently severely injured, sitting in an armchair in a ruined apartment, wearing a keffiyeh and battle fatigues. He throws an object at the drone.
It said in a statement posted on X, Iranâs UN missions said:
When Muslims look up to Martyr Sinwar standing on the battlefield â in combat attire and out in the open, not in a hideout, facing the enemy â the spirit of resistance will be strengthened.
He will become a model for the youth and children who will carry forward his path toward the liberation of Palestine. As long as occupation and aggression exist, resistance will endure, for the martyr remains alive and a source of inspiration.
Meanwhile, the US signalled it would begin a new push for a ceasefire, with US vice president Kamala Harris stating that Sinwarâs killing was âan opportunity to finally end the war in Gazaâ and that it was âtime for the day after to beginâ.
She echoed similar comments from President Joe Biden, who said it was âtime for this war to end and bring these hostages homeâ as he arrived in Germany.
He added that he was âhopefulâ about the prospects of a ceasefire and would be sending secretary of state Antony Blinken to Israel in the coming four to five days to discuss securing Gaza and what the âday afterâ the war will look like.
In Lebanon, the militant group Hezbollah said it was launching a new and escalating phase in its war against Israel, and that it had used precision-guided missiles against troops for the first time.
Hezbollah âannounces a transition to a new and escalatory phase in the confrontation with the Israeli enemy, which will be reflected in the developments and events of the coming days,â the group said in a statement.
In other developments:
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Sinwar had been âeliminatedâ in Tel Sultan, a neighbourhood of Gazaâs southernmost town, Rafah, on Wednesday. The bodies of three militants were taken to Israel for DNA and dental record testing. Sinwarâs death brings to an end to a year-long hunt for the mastermind of the 7 October attack on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.
Israelâs Kan Radio reported that the Hamas leader had been killed âby chanceâ, and not as a result of intelligence gathering. Photos and video from the scene, broadcast on Israeli media, showed what appeared to be Sinwarâs body lying in a pile of rubble on the floor of a destroyed building.
Families and supporters of hostages kidnapped during the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel demand a hostage deal and ceasefire in Tel Aviv after news of Yahya Sinwarâs death. Photograph: Violeta Santos Moura/Reuters
Hundreds of people gathered in Tel Aviv to call for the release of hostages held in Gaza after the news of Sinwarâs assassination broke.
The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, said his country âwill not mournâ Sinwarâs death, as he called for the release of hostages, an immediate ceasefire and an increase in humanitarian aid into Gaza. The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said his death âis certainly weakening Hamasâ. Franceâs president, Emmanuel Macron, said he was thinking âwith emotion of the victimsâ of the 7 October Hamas attacks for which Sinwar was the mastermind. Germanyâs foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, called on Hamas to âimmediately release all hostages and lay down its arms, the suffering of the people of Gaza must finally endâ. Antonio Tajani, Italyâs foreign minister, said he hoped that that Sinwarâs killing âwill lead to a ceasefire in Gazaâ.
At least 28 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a school turned shelter in the Jabaliya neighbourhood of Gaza City on Thursday. Among those killed in the bombing of Abu Hussein school included doctors and several children, according to health officials, who warned the final toll was likely to be higher. The attack on the Jabaliya school also caused a fire.
Another 11 people were killed in two separate airstrikes in Gaza City on Thursday, as Israelâs latest campaign in Jabaliya, a district of Gaza City, reaches its second week. Jabaliya residents said on Thursday that several streets were blown up in bombings, by tank fire and controlled detonations, and that Jabaliya, together with the northern towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia, are now under a complete siege. An estimated 400,000 people are trapped by the fighting, with dwindling humanitarian supplies.
The entirety of northern Gaza is under Israeli evacuation orders. Among those who have remained in the north are disabled or elderly people and their families, who say it is too dangerous and difficult to move. The UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, warned Israel that any âlarge-scale forcible transferâ of civilians out of conflict-wracked north Gaza could constitute a war crime if not done on âimperative military groundsâ.
Israel allowed 50 lorries carrying food, water and medical equipment to enter northern Gaza on Wednesday, following a warning from the US that Israel must allow more aid to reach Gaza or face a cut off in military support. Israel had previously not allowed any aid to enter the north since the start of the month, leading the UN World Food Programme to once again raise the alarm of imminent famine.
It was unclear how many Palestinians were killed in other strikes in central and southern Gaza on Thursday. At least42,438 Palestinians have been killed and 99,246 injured since 7 October, the health ministry in Gaza said on Thursday. The toll includes 29 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry, which said 99,246 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began.
Lebanonâs crisis response unit said 45 people were killed and 179 were wounded in the past 24 hours on Thursday. The latest figures raise the total death toll over the past year of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah to 2,412 killed, according to Lebanonâs health ministry. In addition, 11,285 people have been injured.
Al Jazeera staff evacuated their offices in downtown Beirut on Thursday afternoon after receiving messages warning them to leave the building, similar to past evacuation warnings from Israel that preceded bombings, the network reported. Two embassies, one of which is the Norwegian embassy, is also housed in the same building were also evacuated.
The US carried out B-2 stealth bomber strikes on Houthi underground weapons facilities in Yemen for the first time. Local television in Houthi-run areas of the country reported 15 strikes hit five sites near the capital, Sanaâa, and in the northern governorate Saada, the traditional Houthi homeland, on Thursday around dawn. The move appears in part to be a warning from Washington to Houthiâs backers in Tehran. The Houthi rebels vowed to retaliate.
The US announced a new âtemporary protected statusâ allowing Lebanese nationals in the US to remain in the country and apply for work permits. The designation will last 18 months âdue to ongoing armed conflict and extraordinary and temporary conditions in Lebanon that prevent nationals of Lebanon from returning in safetyâ, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said.
The Israeli military has released drone footage it says shows Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s final moments: alone in a ruined Gaza apartment with the walls blown out from shelling, sat hunched in a chair covered by dust, with his head and face obscured by a scarf.
With his right arm appearing severely wounded, the video shows Sinwar flinging a stick over his head in the direction of the approaching drone. The Guardian has not independently verified the footage.
When the footage was taken, Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said Sinwar was only identified as a fighter. The military then fired an additional shell at the building, causing it to collapse and kill him, Hagari said. He said Sinwar was found with a bulletproof vest, grenades, and 40,000 shekels ($10,707).
According to the Jerusalem Post, Hagari told reporters: “Sinwar fled alone into one of the buildings. Our forces used a drone to scan the area, which you can see here in the footage I’m presenting.”
“Sinwar, who was injured in his hand by gunfire, can be seen here with his face covered, in his final moments, throwing a wooden plank at the drone,” he said.
“He tried to escape and our forces eliminated him.”.
Hamas has not commented on the killing of Sinwar.
Photos circulating online showed the body of a man resembling Sinwar with a gaping head wound, dressed in a military-style vest, half buried in the rubble of a destroyed building.
Israeli officials said Sinwar was found by infantry soldiers searching an area in the Tal El Sultan area of southern Gaza on Wednesday, where they believed senior members of Hamas were located.
The troops saw three suspected militants moving between buildings and opened fire, leading to a gunfight during which Sinwar escaped into a ruined building.
In the last months of his life, Sinwar, the main architect of the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel that set off the war in Gaza, appears to have stopped using telephones and other communication equipment that would have allowed Israel’s powerful intelligence services to track him down.
Israeli officials said they believed he was hiding in one of the vast network of tunnels that Hamas dug beneath Gaza over the past two decades, but as more and more have been uncovered by Israeli troops, even the tunnels were no guarantee of escaping capture.
Intelligence services had been searching for Sinwar for months and had been gradually restricting the area where he could operate, the military said. Dental records, fingerprints and DNA testing provided final confirmation of Sinwar’s death.
