Photo: Collected
Israel announced on Thursday the killing of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, mastermind of the October 7 attack, calling his death a "heavy blow" to the Palestinian group it has been fighting for more than a year.
The Israeli military said that after a year-long hunt, troops had on Wednesday "eliminated Yahya Sinwar, the leader of the Hamas, in an operation in the southern Gaza Strip". Hamas has not confirmed his death.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who vowed to crush Hamas at the start of the war, hailed Sinwar's killing, saying: "Today evil has suffered a heavy blow."
While the Gaza war sparked by the October 7 attack was "not over yet", he said Sinwar's death was an "important landmark in the decline of the evil rule of Hamas".
Chief of Hamas in Gaza at the time of the attack, Sinwar rose through the ranks of the Hamas to become its overall leader after the killing in July of its political chief, Ismail Haniyeh.
Hamas's attack, the deadliest in Israeli history, resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures that includes hostages killed in captivity.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that Sinwar was a "mass murderer... responsible for the massacre and atrocities of October 7".
Israel's announcement on Sinwar comes weeks after it assassinated Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in a strike in Lebanon, where the Israeli military has been at war since late September.
With Hamas already weakened more than a year into the Gaza war, Sinwar's death deals an immense blow to the organisation.
US President Joe Biden, whose government is Israel's top arms provider, said: "This is a good day for Israel, for the United States, and for the world."
"There is now the opportunity for a 'day after' in Gaza without Hamas in power, and for a political settlement that provides a better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike."
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