Middle East Tensions: Netanyahu Says 'Account Settled' After Sinwar's Death; US Congratulates Israel | Latest

The mastermind behind last year's October 7 attack on Israel that sparked the war on Gaza, Hamas' top leader Yahya Sinwar, was killed during a battle, Jerusalem's military said on Thursday.

Sinwar's death was an unexpected one as Israeli forces appeared to have run across him unknowingly during a fight. They later discovered the body of Israel's most wanted man under the rubble.

Israeli leaders celebrated Sinwar's killing as a way of settling scores, just over a year after Hamas broke into southern Israel in an attack that stunned the country and the world alike.

Middle East Tensions | The Latest

Yahya Sinwar Is Dead

Hamas' top leader Yahya Sinwar, the architect of the militant group's October 7 attack last year, was killed unknowingly in a battle, the Israeli military said on Thursday.

Sinwar's death comes as a serious blow to Hamas, which has been continuously regrouping in this war with Israel. He had been the militant group's top leader inside the Gaza Strip for years, closely linked to its military wing. Sinwar was elevated to the highest spot of Hamas in July this year after his predecessor Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an apparent Israeli airstrike on Iran's capital Tehran.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant addressed Hamas fighters and said that it "is time to go out, release the hostages, raise your hands, surrender".

Notably, Israel has in the past months taken down several senior and top leaders of Hamas and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. The Israeli troops have also claimed to have killed the head of Hamas' military wing -- Mohammed Deif -- in an airstrike but, the group said that he survived.

An official of the Israeli forces said that Sinwar had "engaged in combat" with them while operating in Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah, and was spotted running into a building, which the army struck with tank fire.

The official said that the army had suspected several top Hamas leaders, including Sinwar, as being present in the vicinity, however, Yahya Sinwar was not the target of their day's specific operations.

Israeli army chief Herzi Halevi visited the site of the killing and said that the military had conducted "many special operations in this war where we had excellent information...Here, we didn't have that and the response was very, very strong."

Israeli forces said that three militants were killed in the operation. Sinwar being among those killed was confirmed by the cops with dental records and fingerprints, and DNA tests were underway.

Notably, Sinwar had been imprisoned by Israel from the late 1980s until 2011, and during that time he underwent treatment for brain cancer, leaving Israeli authorities with extensive medical records.

'Account Settled, But War Not Yet Ended'

Following Yahya Sinwar's killing, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that though the account was settled, the war was still not at its end.

He said that Sinwar's death was an "important moment in the war" to bring home the hostages (nearly 100) being held by Hamas in Gaza. Netanyahu further said that anyone who surrendered weapons and assisted with the return of the hostages would be allowed to leave Gaza safely.

Israel "settled its account" with "the person who carried out the worst massacre in the history of our people since the Holocaust", the PM said.

"While this is not the end of the war in Gaza, it's the beginning of the end," he added.

'An Opportunity To End War In Gaza': US

US President Joe Biden said on Thursday that Yahya Sinwar's killing by Israeli forces is a "good day for Israel, for the United States, and for the world", and called it an "opportunity" to free Israeli hostages held by Hamas and end the year-long war in Gaza.

In a statement, Biden compared the feeling to that in the US after Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden -- responsible for the 9/11 attacks -- was killed. He said that Sinwar's death "proves once again that no terrorist anywhere in the world can escape justice, no matter how long it takes".

Biden said he would speak with Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders to congratulate them and "to discuss the pathway for bringing the hostages home to their families, and for ending this war once and for all".

With Sinwar's death, Biden said, "there is now the opportunity for a day after in Gaza without Hamas in power, and for a political settlement that provides a better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike."

The US President, who is serving his final term, also praised the US special operations forces and intel operatives who helped advise Israeli allies on tracking and locating Sinwar and other Hamas leaders over the last year -- though the US clarified that Sinwar was killed in an Israeli operation.

Democratic presidential nominee and US Vice President Kamala Harris said that the killing of Yahya Sinwar by Israel "gives us an opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza".

Speaking at an electoral campaign in Wisconsin, Harris said, the war "must end and the Palestinian people can realise their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination".

"It is time for the day after to begin," she said.

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan called Sinwar a "massive obstacle" to peace, adding that "his removal from the battlefield does present an opportunity to find a way forward that gets the hostages home."

15 Killed In Northern Gaza School

An Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter in northern Gaza killed at least 15 people on Thursday, including five children, said Gaza's Health Ministry.

Israeli forces said that they targeted dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants who had gathered at the Abu Hussein school in Jabaliya, an urban refugee camp where Israel has been conducting ops for more than a week.

Further, the Israeli forces said that it targeted a command centre run by both militant groups inside the school. It provided a list of around a dozen names of people it identified as militants who were present when the strike was called in.

Since Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7 last year, killing around 1,200 people and abducting some 250 others, Israeli forces and the militant group have been exchanging strikes.

Of the 250 hostages held in Gaza, some 100 remain -- a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Meanwhile, Israeli offensive has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, as per Gaza's Health Ministry.

Al Jazeera Office, Norway Embassy Evacuated In Beirut

A building in Lebanon's central Beirut that houses the office of the Al Jazeera news network and the Norwegian Embassy were evacuated on Thursday after a warning.

Israel had ordered the evacuation of several building, as well as cities, towns, and villages, as it continues to strike what it says are targets linked to Hezbollah.