By Abiola Olawale
Israel has confirmed the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
Sinwar is said to be the mastermind behind the deadly October 7, 2023, attack in Israel.
In a statement Thursday, the Israeli military said it was able to kill Sinwar following a collaborative effort with the Shin Bin domestic intelligence agency.
Reacting to this latest development , Isreal’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the news marks a major development in the country.
He said: “Today evil has suffered a heavy blow, but the task before us is not yet complete.”
Sinwar was said to be the leader of Hamas in Gaza when the Palestinian militant group led a surprise attack on Israel just over a year ago, killing some 1,200 people and taking at least 240 hostages, according to Israeli officials.
In response to the attack, Israel’s military launched an air and ground campaign in Gaza that has killed more than 42,400 Palestinians and injured more than 99,000, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The United Nations says 90% of the enclave’s population is displaced by the conflict, and a U.N.-backed food security assessment said more than 1.8 million people in the enclave live in “extremely critical” levels of hunger.
Sinwar was appointed the leader of the entire group after Israel killed his predecessor, Ismail Haniyeh, in an explosion in Tehran in July. The Israeli military also said it had killed the head of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, in an airstrike in July. The Israeli military had earlier said it killed Hamas’ deputy political chief, Salah Arouri, in a bombing in Beirut in January.
Born on October 29, 1962, according to Hamas, Sinwar helped found the group’s internal security apparatus in the late 1980s. He earned a nickname among Palestinians: the “butcher of Khan Younis,” where he grew up in the southern Gaza Strip.
