Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed in Gaza by Israeli forces, officials said

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz said.

He has been credited as the mastermind of the October 7, 2023 attack in Israel that killed 1,200 people, the worst terrorist attack in Israel’s history.

“The master murderer Yahya Sinwar, responsible for the massacre and atrocities of October 7, was killed today by IDF soldiers,” Katz said in a statement. “This is a great military and moral achievement for Israel and a victory for the entire free world against the axis of evil of extreme Islam led by Iran.”

Sinwar, 62, had served as Hamas’ leader in Gaza since 2017 and took over leadership of the group’s politburo following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Iran this July.

Israeli authorities said they had been hunting Sinwar for a year and that he had been hiding “behind the civilian population of Gaza, both above and underground in Hamas tunnels in the Gaza Strip.” The Israel Defense Forces and Israel Security Agency said their operations in recent weeks in southern Gaza restricted their movement and “led to their elimination.”

“Sinwar died while being hit, chased and on the run – he did not die as a commander, but as someone who only cared about himself,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in a statement. “This is a clear message to all our enemies: the IDF will come after anyone who tries to harm the citizens of Israel or our security forces, and we will bring you to justice.”

MORE: Who Is Yahya Sinwar, Israel’s Most Wanted Hamas Terrorist?

The IDF initially said it was “checking the possibility” that the Hamas leader was among the three militants killed in an operation in Gaza and was working to confirm the identification through dental imaging and DNA testing.

Israeli police said there is a “definitive identification” of Sinwar’s murder based on a comparison of dental records and a fingerprint match.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced his death as “an important milestone in the decline of the evil rule of Hamas” in a video address.

Katz said Sinwar’s death “creates the possibility of the immediate release of the abductees and of bringing about a change that will lead to a new reality in Gaza, without Hamas and without Iranian control.”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog also said in a statement that Israel “must act in all possible ways to recover the 101 hostages” still in Gaza.

Netanyahu said that those who return the hostages peacefully, “we will allow them to go out and live.”

“The return of our hostages is an opportunity to achieve all our goals and brings the end of the war closer,” he said.

President Joe Biden had been briefed on Israel’s investigation into whether Israel killed Sinwar, according to a senior administration official.

The Israelis also notified US Defense Department officials, including Secretary Lloyd Austin, of Sinwar’s possible death, a US defense official told a joint briefing earlier Thursday.

MORE: Netanyahu and Sinwar: One year after war, leaders remain in power and without ceasefire deal

In 1989, an Israeli court sentenced Sinwar to four life sentences for his role in the murder of suspected Palestinian informants and the plot to kill two Israeli soldiers.

Sinwar spent the next 22 years in prison before becoming one of more than 1,000 Palestinian detainees released in 2011 in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who had been held hostage by Hamas for five years.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

ABC News’ Guy Davies and Jordana Miller contributed to this report.

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar killed in Gaza by Israeli forces, officials say, originally appeared on abcnews.go.com