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Hamas confirms 'martyrdom' of leader Yahya Sinwar

October 18, 2024 at 1:47 pm

Yahya Sinwar, Palestinian leader of Hamas in Gaza Strip in Gaza City, Gaza on December 14, 2022. [Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency]

Hamas today confirmed that its chief, Yahya Sinwar, was killed in fighting in Gaza, a statement issued on the group’s social media channels said.

“Hamas leader Khalil Al-Hayya announces the martyrdom of the great leader, President of the Hamas Political Bureau, the hero of Al-Aqsa Flood, Yahya Sinwar, who sought martyrdom and attained it after clashing with a zionist force alongside other fighters in the #Gaza Strip,” the movement said.

“Hamas will remain until a Palestinian state is established on all historic Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital,” Al-Hayya continued, adding that Sinwar’s martyred, like that of his predecessors including Hamas founders Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz Al-Rantisi, will only “empower the resistance” and “will be a curse on the occupiers”.

Israel’s prisoners, he continued, “will not be returned without a complete ceasefire, Israeli withdrawal from the Strip and the release of Palestinian prisoners from the occupation’s prisons.”

Israel announced yesterday that Sinwar was killed after a firefight with occupation forces in the southern Rafah governorate on Wednesday. It later released drone footage of his last moments showing him fighting against the occupation until the end. He was wearing a keffiyeh to conceal his face and army fatigues.

Sinwar was  appointed leader of Hamas’ political bureau in August, a week after the assassination of his predecessor Ismail Haniyeh in a “Zionist raid” while he was on an official visit to Iran.

Israel views Sinwar as the mastermind behind the ‘Al-Aqsa Flood Operation’ carried out by Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, against Israeli settlements and military bases near Gaza on 7 October 2023.

READ: UN: 345,000 Palestinians in Gaza face ‘catastrophic’ hunger levels this winter