The autopsy carried out by the Israeli military on Yahya Sinwar‘s body has shown no evidence that the deceased Hamas leader used drugs.
Forensic tests confirmed that Sinwar’s blood didn’t contain any traces of drugs but that he had consumed a significant amount of caffeine before he was killed in October, according to Israeli media reports.
Israel has in the past alleged that Sinwar and other Hamas fighters have used the captagon, a type of amphetamine that fighters in Syria and Iraq have used to increase battlefield performance.
Sinwar was killed in battle with Israeli forces in October after a tank shell hit a building he was sheltering in in Rafah City.
An initial autopsy revealed that the Hamas leader had not eaten for three days before his death and that he had survived for several hours after being shot in the head.
The pathologists chose not to extract the bullets found in Sinwar’s head, according to the report.
Israel is holding the body in an undisclosed location.
Sinwar’s younger brother and current Hamas leader in Gaza, Mohammed, has asked that Israel release his body as part of any ceasefire agreement to permanently end the war – a demand that Israel has so far refused.
Al-Aqsa Flood mastermind considered cancelling 7 October attack
Israeli media reports also reported that Mohammed Deif, the late commander of Hamas’ military wing, had considered calling off the 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel – known as Operation Al-Aqsa Flood – just hours before the assault took place.
In an article based on an internal investigation conducted by the Israeli military, Yedioth Ahronoth reported that the al-Qassam Brigades commander was fearful that Israel’s security services had prepared an ambush for his forces, and almost called off the attack at 5 am on 7 October.
The newspaper cites internal documents and interviews with senior officials involved in mediating the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel. It is part of a series of investigative articles to be published by the daily on Israel’s intelligence failures leading up to the attack.
The report also claims that Deif and then-Hamas leader in Gaza, Sinwar, had set up a ‘Small War Council’ to ensure the plans remained secret.
Deif, reportedly known as Brother Haj Ali in internal Hamas documents, was killed in an Israeli attack last year. Israel claimed to have assassinated the military leader in July. Hamas only confirmed his death last month.
Deif was a central figure in the formation of the Al-Qassem Brigades in the 1990s and led the force for more than two decades.
He was reported to have been one of the masterminds of the 7 October attack and was one of the five individuals from Hamas and the Israeli government who were served with arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court (ICC) last year for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
He was reportedly killed along with one of his top commanders, Rafa Salama.