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JERUSALEM/CAIRO—Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, a mastermind of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the Gaza war, has been killed by Israeli forces in the Palestinian enclave, Israel said on Thursday.
His killing marks a huge success for Israel and a pivotal event in the yearlong conflict. Western leaders said his death offered an opportunity for the war to end, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it would go on.
The Israeli military said it had killed Sinwar in an operation in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
“After completing the process of identifying the body, it can be confirmed that Yahya Sinwar was eliminated,” it said.
There was no immediate comment from Hamas, but sources in the militant group said that indications from Gaza suggested Sinwar had been killed in an Israeli operation.
In Israel, families of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza said they hoped for a ceasefire now to bring home the captives but also feared their loved ones were in greater danger.
In Gaza, pounded relentlessly by Israeli forces for a year, residents said they believed the war would continue, but they clung to their hope of self-determination.
US President Joe Biden, who spoke to Netanyahu by phone to congratulate him, as well as French President Emmanuel Macron, said Sinwar’s death provided a chance for the more than yearlong conflict in Gaza to finally end and for Israeli hostages to be brought home.
The United States wants to kickstart talks on a proposal to achieve a ceasefire and secure the release of hostages, US Department of State spokesperson Matthew Miller said, calling Sinwar the “chief obstacle” to ending the war.
“That obstacle has obviously been removed. Can’t predict that that means whoever replaces (Sinwar) will agree to a ceasefire, but it does remove what has been in recent months the chief obstacle to getting one,” he said.
