A top political leader of Hamas, Khalil al-Hayya, has confirmed the death of the group’s leader, Yahya Sinwar.
Mr al-Hayyaa, in a televised statement, reiterated the Palestinian militant group’s stance that it will not release Israeli hostages captured in the group’s October 7 2023 attack on Israel until there is a ceasefire in the yearlong war in Gaza.
“Those prisoners will not return to you before the end of the aggression on Gaza and the withdrawal from Gaza,” he said.
Mr al-Hayyaa was Mr Sinwar’s Qatar-based deputy and represented Hamas during several rounds of ceasefire negotiations.
In the statement, Hamas heralded Mr Sinwar as a hero who “ascended as a heroic martyr, advancing and not retreating, brandishing his weapon, engaging and confronting the occupation army at the forefront of the ranks”.
The statement appeared to refer to a video circulating of Mr Sinwar’s last moments, in which he sits on a chair in a badly damaged building, severely wounded and covered in dust.
He then suddenly raises his hand and flings a stick at an approaching Israeli miniature drone in an apparent final act of defiance.
The statement came after the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah vowed on Friday to launch a new phase of fighting against Israel, a day after Israel said its forces in Gaza had killed Mr Sinwar, believed to be the chief architect of last year’s deadly attack on Israel that sparked the multifront war.
Both Hamas and Hezbollah are backed by Iran, which hailed Mr Sinwar as a martyr who can inspire others in challenging Israel.
“We, and countless others around the world, salute his selfless struggle for liberation of the Palestinian people,” Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
“Martyrs live forever, and the cause for liberation of Palestine from occupation is more alive than ever.”
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian condemned the killing and said his death will not create a disturbance in Islamic resistance, the state-run IRNA news agency said.
IRNA quoted Mr Pezeshkian as saying: “Martyrdom will not create a disturbance in the Islamic Ummah’s resistance against force and occupation.”
He also expressed condolences to the oppressed people of Gaza and all the freedom-seekers of the world.
Israel has pledged to destroy Hamas politically in Gaza, and killing Mr Sinwar was a top military priority.
Photos which were apparently taken by Israeli troops at the scene showed the body of a man who appeared to be him, half-buried in rubble and with a gaping wound in his head.
In Israel, families of hostages still held in Gaza demanded the Israeli government use Mr Sinwar’s killing as a way to restart negotiations to bring home their loved ones.
There are about 100 hostages remaining in Gaza, at least 30 of whom Israel says are dead.
“We are at an inflection point where the goals set for the war with Gaza have been achieved, all but the release of the hostages,” Ronen Neutra, father of the Israeli-American hostage Omer Neutra, said in a video statement.
“Sinwar, who was described as a major obstacle to a deal, is no longer alive.”
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was planning to convene a special meeting on Friday to discuss hostage negotiations, an Israeli official with knowledge of the negotiations said.
The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential information.
US President Joe Biden reiterated his call for Israel to use the death of Mr Sinwar as an opportunity to move towards peace.
Mr Biden said, as he met Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin on Friday, that Mr Sinwar’s killing “represents a moment of justice”.
He added that Mr Sinwar “had the blood of Americans and Israelis, Palestinians and Germans and so many others on his hands”.
Mr Biden said: “I told the prime minister of Israel yesterday, let’s also make this moment an opportunity to seek a path to peace, a better future in Gaza without Hamas.”
He later told reporters the leaders “think that there is a possibility of working for a ceasefire in Lebanon and it’s going to be harder in Gaza”.
He continued: “But we agree there has to be an outcome of what happens the day after.”
Mr Scholz, also a staunch ally of Israel, said Mr Sinwar’s death hopefully opens “the concrete prospect of a ceasefire in Gaza, of an agreement to release the hostages held by Hamas”.
On Thursday night, Mr Biden said “now’s the time to move on … Move toward a ceasefire in Gaza, make sure that we move in a direction that we’re able to make things better for the whole world.”
