OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: The Israeli military on Thursday announced the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar by its forces in southern Gaza the previous day.

The Israeli military “confirms that after a year-long pursuit, yesterday (Wednesday), October 16, 2024, IDF (military) soldiers from the Southern Command eliminated Yahya Sinwar, the leader of the Hamas terrorist organisation, in an operation in the southern Gaza Strip,” it said in a statement.

“The dozens of operations carried out by the IDF and the ISA (Shin Bet internal security agency) over the last year, and in recent weeks in the area where he was eliminated, restricted Yahya Sinwar’s operational movement as he was pursued by the forces and led to his elimination,” the military added.

“IDF soldiers of the 828th Brigade (Bislach) operating in the area identified and eliminated three terrorists. After completing the process of identifying the body, it can be confirmed that Yahya Sinwar was eliminated”.

Israel accuses Sinwar, 61, of being the mastermind of the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the ongoing war, along with Hamas’s military chief Mohammed Deif.—AFP