Israel's Netanyahu says Sinwar killing 'beginning of the end' of Gaza war

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu declares the killing of Hamas chief Sinwar as the beginning of the end of the war.

 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday (October 17, 2024) that the killing of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar in the Gaza Strip was the “beginning of the end” of the year-long war in the Palestinian territory.

The Israeli military said that after a lengthy hunt, troops had on Wednesday (October 16, 2024) “eliminated Yahya Sinwar, the leader of the Hamas terrorist organisation, in an operation in the southern Gaza Strip”.

Hamas has not confirmed his death.

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Mr. Netanyahu, who vowed to crush Hamas at the start of the war, hailed Sinwar’s killing, saying: “While this is not the end of the war in Gaza, it’s the beginning of the end.”

He had earlier called Sinwar’s death an “important landmark in the decline of the evil rule of Hamas”.

The chief of Hamas in Gaza at the time of the October 7 attack that sparked the current war, Sinwar became the militant group’s overall leader after the killing in July of its political chief, Ismail Haniyeh.