Lt. Col. Ran Reveals: The Final Moments Hunting Down Yahya Sinwar

Lieutenant Colonel Ran, the commander of the infantry force that killed Yahya Sinwar, the chief architect of the October 7 massacre and longtime leader of Hamas terrorists in Gaza, recently spoke openly about the operation on Shlomi Adler’s "All in" podcast. In a candid recounting, he described the sleepless night of doubt, the careful identification process, the assault on the building, and the profound sense of closure when his soldiers confirmed they had taken out one of Israel's most wanted terrorists.

Ran explained how suspicion built during the hours before dawn. "I was awake all night," he recounted. "I kept telling myself, you’re imagining it. Don’t try to connect the dots." He gathered his company commanders, pulled up a drone image from the previous day, and asked them directly, "Tell me, who does this look like?" The image showed a figure that matched known characteristics of Sinwar, prompting the unit to move on the suspicious structure.

Once the force entered the building and conducted a thorough search, the identification became undeniable. "We’re standing over the body, smiling at each other, and saying: ‘Wow, this is Sinwar.’ It’s an insane closing of the circle," Ran said. He described the weight of the moment, standing face to face with the man responsible for immense suffering. "This is the architect, this is the scoundrel, this arch-terrorist, this is the one who caused me, as a battalion commander, to lose so many fighters, who caused so much loss to the IDF, kidnapped people, and committed horrific atrocities against our people. This is him."

Ran made a point of crediting the regular ground troops rather than elite special forces or air power. "The one who killed him wasn’t an air force bomb, not a special operation, not Shayetet 13. No, it was infantrymen, it was tank crews, fighters who day in and day out throughout this war worked the hardest, and here, we succeeded." The operation unfolded through the persistent, grueling work of infantry soldiers and armored crews who had been engaged in close-quarters combat across Gaza for months.

Sinwar's elimination marked a major turning point in the war that began with the October 7, 2023, terrorist attacks orchestrated under his command. Those attacks killed over 1200 people in southern Israel and resulted in the abduction of more than 250 hostages, triggering Israel's ongoing campaign to dismantle Hamas terrorist infrastructure and secure the release of captives. Ran's account underscores the human cost borne by frontline soldiers and the deep personal significance of removing the figure most responsible for planning and approving the atrocities. His words reflect both tactical pride in a successful ground-level mission and the emotional release felt by many in the IDF who had lost comrades to Sinwar's directives over the years.