The death of Yahya Sinouar represents “a crucial step” in the weakening of Hamas, declared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday October 17. “Evil has suffered a heavy blow, but our mission is not yet complete”, he added.

Israel announced that Yahya Sinouar, leader of Hamas and considered the instigator of the October 7 attack, had been killed during a military operation in Rafah, in southern Gaza. Netanyahu claimed that the killing marked “the beginning of the end” of the war in Gaza.

Yahya Sinouar, 61, had led Hamas in Gaza since 2017, and had been appointed the movement’s political chief in August after Ismail Haniyeh’s death in Tehran. The Israeli army confirmed that, following a months-long hunt, Sinouar had been eliminated on Wednesday in a targeted operation.

In a video message broadcast overnight, Netanyahu celebrated Sinouar’s death, but warned that it did not mark the immediate end of the conflict, but rather its decline. The Israeli army broadcast images showing a wounded man, identified as Sinouar, shortly before his death.

Although this information has not yet been confirmed by Hamas, Sinouar is widely held responsible for the attack of October 7, 2023, which triggered the current conflict in the Gaza Strip.