Hamas confirms chief Yahya Sinwar’s death, says hostages won’t be freed until Israel stops Gaza ‘aggression’

Declaring that Sinwar’s death would only strengthen the group, Al-Hayya said, “Sinwar’s death will turn into a curse on the occupiers.” He also stressed that Israeli hostages would not be released until Israeli forces stopped their “aggression” on Gaza and withdrew from the region.

The hostages “will not return, unless the aggression against our people in Gaza stops, there is a complete withdrawal from it, and our heroic prisoners are released from the occupation’s prisons,” Al-Haya said in a video statement, news agency Reuters reported.

Al-Hayya reiterated that Hamas would continue its fight until the Palestinian people’s ambitions were achieved, despite the loss of their leader.

Sinwar was appointed Hamas’s leader in Gaza in 2017, and rose to become the group’s most powerful figure after the assassination of former political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31.

Meanwhile, Iranian officials also condemned Sinwar’s killing, with President Masoud Pezeshkian describing his death as “a clear sign of the unstoppable crimes committed by Israel.” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, in a post on X, said that “martyrs live forever, and the cause for the liberation of Palestine from occupation is more alive than ever.”

Sinwar, who was born in the Khan Younis refugee camp in southern Gaza, spent half his adult life in Israeli prisons and has evaded multiple assassination attempts since the start of the war. His death represents a turning point in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.

With inputs from Reuters

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