Hamas confirmed the assassination of its leader Yahya Sinwar in a statement on Friday, October 18, 2024.
According to Al Jazeera, a day after Israeli forces claimed that they had killed the Hamas chief in the Southern Gaza Strip, the resistance movement confirmed the death of Sinwar.
The head of Hamas in Gaza, Khalil Hayya, in a televised address, announced the “martyrdom” of Yahya by calling him a “steadfast, brave and intrepid” leader who “sacrificed his life to the cause of our liberation.”
He told the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV, “He met his end standing brave, with his head held high, holding his firearm, firing until the last breath, until the last moment of his life.”
Hayya further added, “Since his early days, he was engaged in his struggle as a resistant fighter. He stood defiant behind Israeli bars and after his release in a swap deal, he continued with his struggle and his dedication to the cause.”
Moreover, he vowed that the captives held in Gaza would not be released until Israel stopped attacking Gaza and withdrew its forces from Palestine.
The Hamas head in Gaza pledged to continue “until the establishment of a Palestinian state on all Palestinian soil with Jerusalem as its capital.”
To note, Sinwar, who became Hamas chief in Gaza in 2017, was made overall leader of the movement after the former leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in an Israeli attack in July 2024 in Iran.
