Transportation Minister Miri Regev said Monday that she proposed burning the body of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar during a recent meeting of the Security Cabinet, arguing that some “symbols must not be returned.”
“I thought we should do exactly what the Americans did with bin Laden,” Regev said, referring to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, who was killed in 2011 by U.S. special forces and buried at sea. “I made that proposal in the Cabinet, and there are symbols that must not be returned,” she said. Regev’s suggestion is reportedly under review by Israeli security officials.
Speaking in an interview with the ultra-Orthodox radio station Kol Barama, Regev said her idea was not discussed during the Cabinet session. “I believe there are certain symbols that must not be returned,” she said. “Unfortunately, because we understand the Middle East and know what happens in this region, I can say that at no stage would I want to see Sinwar buried.”
Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported that as negotiations between Israel and Hamas appeared to be nearing a U.S.-, Egyptian- and Qatari-mediated deal, the Palestinian terrorist organization demanded the return of Sinwar’s body along with that of his brother, Mohammed. The report, citing sources in the mediating countries, aligned with other accounts indicating that Hamas had also demanded the release of veteran prisoners as part of the deal — demands that were ultimately rejected.
Israel had previously refused to release Sinwar’s body, which was transferred to a secret storage location. On Oct. 9, after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Hamas had agreed to the first phase of his plan to end the war — leading to a cease-fire in Gaza and the release of most of the hostages — an Israeli official told CNN that “the bodies of the Sinwar brothers will not be part of the current agreement.”
Yahya Sinwar, who led the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip during the Oct. 7 massacre, was killed by Israeli forces on Oct. 16, 2024, during routine military operations in the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood of Rafah. The joint announcement by the IDF and the Shin Bet internal security service stated: “The leader of the Hamas terrorist organization and the man responsible for the Oct. 7 massacre has been eliminated.”
His brother Mohammed, also among the architects of the deadly assault, took command of Hamas’s military wing after Mohammed Deif was killed in July 2024. Mohammed Sinwar was later killed in an Israeli airstrike in May while inside an underground compound beneath the European Hospital in Khan Yunis.