Yahya Sinwar’s final moments and the Israeli trainees who found him

Houthis in Sana’a, Yemen, raise a poster of Yahya Sinwar. The last images of the Hamas leader, dressed in combat gear after fighting to the last breath, may heighten his martyr status for some. Photograph: Osamah Abdulrahman/AP

The Israeli soldiers who came across Yahya Sinwar and his two bodyguards were trainee squad commanders from an infantry school unit.

The fact it was a platoon from the infantry commanders and combat training school (Bislamach) that found the Hamas commander and mastermind of the 7 October attacks is all the more ironic in light of the year-long fruitless manhunt conducted by the cream of Israel’s special forces and intelligence units.