Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said.
He is considered the mastermind behind the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that left 1,200 dead, the worst terrorist attack in Israel’s history.
“The master killer Yahya Sinwar, who was responsible for the massacre and atrocities on October 7, was killed today by an IDF soldier,” Katz said in a statement. “This is a great military and moral achievement for Israel and a victory for the entire free world against the evil axis of extreme Islam led by Iran.”
Gaza Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh attend the funeral ceremony of senior militant Mazen Fuqaha in Gaza City March 25, 2017.
Mohammed Salem / Reuters
Sinwar, 62, has been the leader of Hamas in Gaza since 2017 and became head of the group’s political bureau after the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Iran this July.
Israeli authorities said they had been chasing Sinwar for a year and that he had been hiding “behind Gaza’s civilian population, above and below ground in Hamas tunnels in the Gaza Strip.” The Israel Defense Forces and Israel Security Agency said operations in recent weeks in southern Gaza had restricted their movement and “caused their elimination.”
“Sinwar died when he was beaten, tortured and on the run — he did not die as a commander, but as a man who only cared for himself,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in a statement. “This is a clear message. all our enemies – the IDF will come to anyone who tries to harm Israeli citizens or our security forces, and we will bring you to justice.”
The IDF initially said it was “examining the possibility” that the Hamas leader was among the three militants killed in the operation in Gaza and was using it to confirm his identification through dental images and DNA tests.
Israeli police said there was a “definitive identification” of Sinwar’s murder based on a comparison of dental records and a fingerprint match.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced his death as “an important landmark in the decline of the evil rule of Hamas” in a video speech.
Katz said Sinwar’s death “makes it possible for the immediate release of the abductees and to bring about changes that will lead to a new reality in Gaza – without Hamas and without Iranian control.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog also said in a statement that Israel “must act in all possible ways to bring back the 101 hostages” still in Gaza.
A protester holds a sign about the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar during a protest calling for a ceasefire deal and the release of hostages held by Hamas, October 17, 2024, in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Ariel Schalit/AP
Netanyahu said that for those who returned peacefully, “we will let them go out and live.”
“The retreat of the hostages is an opportunity to achieve all our goals and brings the end of the war closer,” he said.
President Joe Biden has been briefed on Israel’s investigation into whether Israel killed Sinwar, according to a senior administration official.
Israel also notified US Defense Department officials, including Secretary Lloyd Austin, of Sinwar’s possible death, US defense officials said on Thursday per a pool report.
The head of the political wing of the Palestinian Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinwar, attends a rally in support of Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque in Gaza City, October 1, 2022.
Mahmud Hams/AFP via Getty Images
In 1989, an Israeli court sentenced Sinwar to four life sentences for his role in the killing of a suspected Palestinian informant and plotting to kill two Israeli soldiers.
Sinwar spent 22 years in prison before becoming one of more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners released in 2011 in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who had been held hostage by Hamas for five years.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Guy Davies and Jordana Miller contributed to this report.
