New Delhi:
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the architect of the deadliest cross-border raid in Israel’s history in 2023, was killed in the fighting, said Gaza Hamas’s deputy leader and the group’s chief negotiator. Khalil Alhaya made the announcement on Friday.
Mr. Sinwar’s death follows the assassinations of other Hamas leaders and commanders by Israel, the first wave of relentless airstrikes since it struck Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people, according to an Israeli tally. This will be a major blow to the Islamist organization, which has faced many challenges.
About 250 people were also pulled back to Gaza, creating a hostage crisis for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, which has vowed to eliminate Hamas.
Mr. Shinwar will be remembered as a ruthless enforcer of Palestinians who collaborated with Israel and as a relentless enemy of the country that imprisoned him for many years. Shinwar was named the organization’s top leader on August 6, succeeding former political chief Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Tehran on July 31.
Mr. Sinwar, widely known as the architect of the October 7, 2023 attack that was Israel’s most devastating event in decades, has been in Gaza since the start of the war, ignoring Israeli attempts to kill him. are staying.
Sinwar, 62, who was born in a refugee camp in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, was elected leader of Hamas in Gaza in 2017. The controversial leader spent half his adult life in Israeli prisons and was the most powerful remaining Hamas leader. Survived after Haniya’s assassination.
Hostages will not be released: Hamas
Hamas announced today that it will not release the hostages until Israel ends the Gaza war, withdraws from the Gaza Strip and releases imprisoned Palestinians. “The hostages will not return until the attacks against the people of Gaza stop, there is a complete withdrawal from Gaza, and heroic prisoners are released from occupied prisons,” Khalil al-Haya said in a video statement. News agency AFP reported.
With information from Reuters and AFP
