More than a year after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, the country’s military killed the man it considers the main architect of that cross-border massacre — raising questions about the future of the war and about the militant group itself .

Israel has killed several other top Hamas commanders, including Ismail Haniyeh, the group’s political leader.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sinwar’s death “marked the beginning of the day after Hamas,” but “the task ahead is not yet completed.”

Hamas has not yet commented.

So, how did it happen? Israel had committed its resources to a fierce manhunt for Sinwar, declaring him the most wanted man in Gaza and a “dead man walking.” At one point, an Israeli military spokesman said their hunt “will not stop until he is captured, dead or alive.”

And, U.S. officials believe, the Israeli military came close a few times and at one point even obtained a video showing Sinwar with family members in a Gaza tunnel — but he kept slipping away. The Israeli army previously surrounded Sinwar’s house and launched an intensive attack on his hometown of Khan Younis, but could not find him.

That years-long search came to an unexpected end in Rafah when Israeli troops came under fire near a building during a routine operation, two Israeli sources said.

The troops returned fire with a tank and then flew into the building with a drone. A video shared by the military shows what appears to be Sinwar’s final moments: he sits alone in a chair, surrounded by dust and debris, appearing to look directly at the camera. He holds a piece of wood in his hand and throws it at the drone before the video ends.

Only then, and as troops inspected the rubble, did they realize Sinwar was among the bodies.

Dental records and other biometric data helped Israel identify the Hamas leader, according to a US official and former official familiar with the matter.

Sinwar was trying to escape north when he was killed, the Israeli military said. He was found with a gun and more than $10,000 in Israeli shekels, the report said.

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