ISRAEL’S FOREIGN MINISTER has said that the country’s army has killed Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas who masterminded the devastating attack on 7 October. 

In a statement, Israel Katz said: “The mass murderer Yahya Sinwar, responsible for the massacre and atrocities of October 7th, was eliminated today by IDF soldiers.”

Katz called Sinwar’s killing a “military and moral achievement for the Israeli army”.

“The assassination of Sinwar will create the possibility to immediately release the hostages and to bring a change that will lead to a new reality in Gaza – without Hamas and without Iranian control.”

There was no immediate confirmation from Hamas of his death. 

IDF: Yahya Sinwar, the leader of the Hamas terrorist organization who was responsible for planning and executing the October 7th Massacre, has been eliminated.

— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) October 17, 2024

Earlier today, a joint statement from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Israel Security Agency, known as Shin Bet, said that they were “checking the possibility” that Sinwar was one of three people killed in an operation in Gaza. 

“During IDF operations in the Gaza Strip, three terrorists were eliminated,” said the statement, which was posted to Telegram and X. 

“The IDA and ISA [Shin Bet] are checking the possibility that one of the terrorists was Yahya Sinwar. At this stage, the identity of the terrorists cannot be confirmed.” 

There were no hostages being held in the building where the three terrorists were killed, the agencies said. 

Sinwar has topped Israel’s most wanted list since the attack on 7 October 2023. He was the head of Hamas in Gaza during the attack, but he rose to become the group’s overall leader in August after the killing of the group’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Sinwar’s is the “beginning of the end” of the war in Gaza.

“Yahya Sinwar is dead. He was killed in Rafah by the brave soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces,” Netanyahu said in an English language video statement released by his office. “While this is not the end of the war in Gaza, it’s the beginning of the end.”

Israeli president Isaac Herzog said Sinwar has “for years been responsible for heinous acts of terrorism against Israeli civilians, citizens of other countries, and the murder of thousands of innocent people”. 

He said that Israel must now act “in every way possible to bring back the 101 hostages” who are still being held by Hamas in Gaza. 

US President Joe Biden hailed his killing as a “good day” for the world, saying it removed a key obstacle to a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee in November’s US election, added that Israel’s killing of Sinwar was a chance to “finally end the war in Gaza.”

The comments reflect growing calls in Washington for a ceasefire even as it backs key ally Israel, amid tensions between Biden and Netanyahu over Israel’s conduct in the conflict.

“Yahya Sinwar was an insurmountable obstacle to achieving all of those goals. That obstacle no longer exists. But much work remains before us,” the US President said.

Biden, who was travelling to Germany, told reporters on arrival that he had called Netanyahu to “congratulate him on getting Sinwar”, adding that the Hamas leader “had a lot of blood on his hands.”

He said he was also dispatching Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the next four or five days to push for a ceasefire.

Biden also said he had told Netanyahu that “now is the time to move on… toward to a ceasefire in Gaza” and that he was now “hopeful” a truce was possible.

Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock branded Sinwar “a cruel murderer and a terrorist”. She said Hamas should “immediately release all the hostages” and “lay down its arms”.

Hamas’s 7 October attack resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people on Israeli soil, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures that include hostages killed in captivity.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed 42,438 people, a majority of them civilians, according to the Palestinian health ministry. The UN acknowledges the figures to be reliable.