'Source of pride': Palestinians salute Yahya Sinwar’s last act of defiance

“I would rather die a martyr than die from the coronavirus, or from a heart attack, or a stroke, or in a car accident.”

These are the words of Yahya Sinwar, the long-hunted leader of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas —uttered three years before he was killed by the Israeli army in Rafah this week.

The 62-year-old Sinwar was killed on October 16, 2024, his final moments captured in a dramatic video by an Israeli drone, which shows him sitting in a heavily damaged building in Gaza.

Despite being gravely injured, with one arm visibly damaged, Sinwar was seen hurling a piece of stick at the drone in what has become an iconic moment – a symbolic final act of defiance by the Palestinian resistance leader.

Shortly after this, Israeli forces struck the building again, leading to its collapse and the death of Sinwar and two other Hamas fighters.

Sinwar’s last recorded moments shattered many prevailing narratives. Despite previous reports suggesting Sinwar was offered safe passage out of Gaza and Israeli outlets portraying him as a leader who had abandoned his people in fear, the reality on the ground told a different story.

“Instead of achieving a propaganda victory, what has actually happened is that the video has backfired on them (Israel) and shown a leader who was standing up on the front lines to the enemy,” Robert Inkalesh, a Middle-East analyst, tells TRT World.

Inkalesh believes that, in fact, in some ways, the video of Sinwar's last moments, as well as the story surrounding his death, will actually inspire many.

Omar Hamad, a Palestinian displaced in Gaza’s Deir al Balah, is one of them.

On the day news of the Hamas leader's death spread, the 28-year-old pharmacist boldly shared a photo of himself side by side with Yahya Sinwar’s widely circulated image, which depicted him seated on a similar chair amid rubble in a heavily damaged building.

“Yahya Sinwar is my leader and my sole representative in defending Palestine, especially Gaza. He lived as a prisoner and died as a leader, raising his head and the heads of all Muslims in this world,” Hamad tells TRT World.

“The martyrdom of Sinwar will never be a victory for Israel; rather, it immortalises the great image of the Palestinian who resists and defends his land,” he contends, stating that “resistance is an idea, and ideas do not die”.

Following Sinwar's death, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said that Sinwar died “beaten, persecuted, and on the run,” claiming he “did not die as a commander, but as someone who only cared for himself.”

But the comments were in stark contrast not only with the circumstances of the Hamas leader’s death but also with many Palestinians’ image of Sinwar.

“He didn’t abandon his weapon or hide, as the occupation claims, but rather he was on the frontlines, facing the Israeli aggression that our people have been enduring for the past year,” says Arafat al Barghouthi, a Palestinian social researcher from the occupied West Bank.

“However, his martyrdom in this manner embarrassed Israel and became a source of pride for the Palestinian people,” he tells TRT World, describing Sinwar as a “noble example of a leader who fought until his last drop of blood”.

Sinwar was named as Hamas’s political chief in August to succeed Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Tehran on July 31 in an attack attributed to Israel. Tel Aviv has not officially acknowledged responsibility.

Israel claims that Sinwar was the mastermind behind the Al Aqsa Flood operation, carried out by Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, against Israeli settlements and military bases near Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023.

Israel’s brutal offensive on Gaza following the Hamas operation has killed more than 42,400 people, mostly women and children.

The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of Gaza amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine.​​​​​​​

Long before Hamas officially acknowledged the killing of Sinwar on Friday, social media was flooded with messages of solidarity with the resistance leader, who spoke fluent Hebrew and was known as a master military strategist.

Palestinians TRT World spoke to paid glowing tributes to the leader, who was born in a refugee camp in Gaza and rose through the ranks to lead the group in one of the most momentous phases in the history of Palestine.

“Founders of movements lead their ideas from the front lines, and that’s exactly what happened with Yahya Sinwar,” says another displaced Palestinian, requesting anonymity.

“Resistance is an idea, and freedom is a conviction. Ideas are not usually killed by bullets.”