Photo: Former IDF Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, former Operations Directorate chief Maj. Gen. Oded Basiuk, and Gaza Division chief Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram standing over Sinwar’s body, Oct. 17, 2024. (Credit: IDF/JNS)
(Oct. 16, 2025 / JNS)
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have released a dramatic, never-before-seen photograph marking the first anniversary of the killing of Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the October 7, 2023 Hamas massacre.
The photo, previously kept from public view, shows the slain body of Sinwar in southern Gaza. Surrounding him are (then) IDF Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, former Operations Directorate chief Maj. Gen. Oded Basiuk, and Gaza Division chief Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram—taken on October 17, 2024, one day after IDF troops killed Sinwar during fierce fighting.
This striking image is being unveiled as part of an exhibition of iconic war photographs at the Yitzhak Rabin Center in Tel Aviv, opening to the public on Sunday.
“A year since humanity was freed from the master of the flood of evil,”
— Avichay Adraee, head of the Arab Media Branch, IDF Spokesperson’s Unit“Goodness cannot be defeated—and justice, no matter how delayed, will prevail. To hell, and what a miserable fate awaits you, Sinwar.”
Sinwar’s death marked the culmination of Israel’s campaign to eliminate the architect of the October 7, 2023 attacks, in which approximately 1,200 people—mostly civilians—were murdered, thousands wounded, and 251 Israelis and foreigners kidnapped into Gaza.
Evidence of Preplanned Atrocities
On Sunday, Israel’s Foreign Ministry released a handwritten letter by Sinwar, underscoring that the October 7 massacre “wasn’t chaos, but choreography.” According to the ministry, terrorists were ordered “to film the slaughter of civilians, soldiers and families—not for documentation, but as a psychological weapon to terrorize Israelis and inspire extremists.”
“This wasn’t a ‘spontaneous uprising.’ It was a scripted campaign for the destruction of Israel—planned, rehearsed, and executed,”
— Israel’s Foreign Ministry
Additionally, The New York Times recently reported on a six-page operational memo recovered by the IDF from a Hamas tunnel complex led by Sinwar’s brother, Mohammed (himself later killed in October 2024). That memo detailed explicit orders to attack and shock Israeli society: burning civilian towns, stomping the heads of soldiers, committing grisly point-blank executions, and using violence as propaganda.
National Day of Mourning and Remembrance
Thursday’s publication of the image coincided with Israel’s national day of mourning for the victims of the October 7 massacre.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking at the state memorial, called the mass killings,
“…merciless killings of infants, children, adults, the elderly. If those killers could have done it, they would have slaughtered each and every one of us.”
As of Thursday, the IDF’s official toll since Oct. 7 stood at 916 soldiers killed—in addition to hundreds of Israeli civilians murdered in both the Hamas-led massacre and subsequent attacks.
For more details and ongoing coverage, read the full story at JNS.org.
Source: JNS.org