Hamas confirmed on Friday the death of its leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza in a defiant statement, saying his demise will only strengthen the militant group and "will be a curse on the occupiers."
Hamas' top political leader Khalil Al-Hayya announced the "martyrdom" of Sinwar "after clashing with a zionist force alongside other fighters in the #Gaza Strip," the Middle East Monitor reported.
"Hamas will remain until a Palestinian state is established on all historic Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital," Al-Hayya said, adding that Sinwar's death like those of other martyrs will only "empower the resistance" and "will be a curse on the occupiers."
The statement also said that the Israeli hostages it holds in Gaza "will not be returned without a Israeli withdrawal from the Strip and the release of Palestinian prisoners from the occupation's prisons."
Israel on Thursday confirmed that Sinwar, the mastermind of the Oct. 7 attack, was killed in a firefight with Israeli soldiers in Gaza and released drone footage of him tossing a stick at a drone during his final moments.
The footage showed Sinwar, his face covered with a scarf, sitting mortally wounded and dust-covered in a chair in a bombed out building in Rafah.
"We identified him as a terrorist inside a building and we shot into the building and we entered to scan the area. We found him with a gun and 40 thousand shekels. He was on the run and our forces eliminated him," said military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari.
