JERUSALEM (dpa-AFX) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar's death marked 'the beginning of the day after Hamas.'
He vowed 'the task before us is not yet complete,' and Israel would continue fighting the Palestinian terrorist outfit until it releases hostages held in Gaza.
Yahya Sinwar, whom Israel alleges to be the mastermind behind the deadly October 7 cross-border terrorist attack, was killed during a routine military operation in southern Gaza Thursday.
Israel's most wanted target in Gaza, Sinwar was reportedly on the run as Israeli Defense Forces intensified operations to hunt down the remaining top leadership of Hamas.
The White House said it was with American intelligence help that many of these leaders, including Sinwar, were tracked and flushed out of their hiding places.
After receiving intelligence that indicated the suspected locations of senior members of Hamas, IDF and ISA forces cornered him and two other terrorists in a building in Rafah.
Israeli Army Radio said the troops fired at them with a tank, and Sinwar's body was identified by DNA records.
Sinwar was named the new political head of the Palestinian militant outfit in August after Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an airstrike in Iranian capital Tehran.
While Haniyeh was widely seen as relatively more pragmatic and moderate leader of Hamas, 61-year-old Yahya Sinwar was viewed as one of its most extreme figures.
Sinwar was a critical figure operationally, militarily, and politically for Hamas. He had, in effect, consolidated control of both the political and military wings under his singular leadership.
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