Hamas mourns Sinwar, vows no hostage release until Gaza war ends

Hamas vowed on Friday it would not release the hostages it had seized during its October 7 attack on Israel until the war on Gaza ends, as it mourned the death of its leader Yahya Sinwar.

"We mourn the great leader, the martyred brother, Yahya Sinwar, Abu Ibrahim," Qatar-based Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya said in a recorded video statement.

The hostages "will not return... unless the aggression against our people in Gaza stops, there is a complete withdrawal from it, and our heroic prisoners are released from the occupation's prisons," he added.

Hamas's confirmation of the death of Sinwar came a day after Israel had announced he was killed.

In Gaza, there was little hope Sinwar's killing would bring an end to the war.

"We always thought that when this moment arrived the war would end and our lives would return to normal," Jemaa Abou Mendi, a 21-year-old Gaza resident, told AFP.

"But unfortunately, the reality on the ground is quite the opposite. The war has not stopped, and the killings continue unabated."

Gaza onslaught continues

Israel conducted air strikes on Gaza on Friday, with several raids overnight and early morning pummelling the territory.

Rescuers recovered the bodies of three Palestinian children from the rubble of their home in the north of the territory after it was hit at dawn, according to Gaza's civil defence agency.

The Israeli military said it was pressing its operation in Jabalia, one of the focuses of the fighting in recent weeks, where strikes on Thursday killed at least 14 people, according to two hospitals.

A UN-backed assessment has found some 345,000 Gazans face "catastrophic" levels of hunger amid tightened Israeli siege.

Israel's war on Gaza has killed over 42,500 people, the majority civilians, according to data from the health ministry in the territory.

With the civilian toll in Gaza mounting, Israel has faced criticism over its conduct in the war, including from its top ally and key arms supplier, the United States.

Israeli military chief Herzi Halevi vowed to keep fighting "until we capture all the terrorists involved in the October 7 massacre and bring all the hostages home".

'Opportunity'

Some Israelis hailed the news of Sinwar's death as a sign of better things to come.

Attending a Tel Aviv rally demanding the hostages' release, 60-year-old Sisil, who gave only her first name, said his killing presented a "once in a lifetime opportunity" for "a hostage deal to end the war".

US President Joe Biden, whose government is Israel's top arms provider, said Sinwar's death was "an opportunity to seek a path to peace, a better future in Gaza without Hamas".

Campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum urged the Israeli government and international mediators to leverage "this major achievement to secure hostages' return".

Successor?

With Hamas already weakened more than a year into the Gaza war, Sinwar's death deals an immense blow to the group, but whether it will trigger a shift in its own strategy is unclear.

It is also unclear whether his successor will be named in Qatar, where Hamas's political leadership has long been based, or in Gaza, the focus of the fighting.

The Israeli military said Sinwar was killed in a firefight in southern Gaza's Rafah, near the Egyptian border, while being tracked by a drone.

It released drone footage of what it said was Sinwar's final moments, with the video showing a wounded man throwing an object at the drone.

Israel is also fighting a war in Lebanon, where Hamas ally Hezbollah opened a front by launching cross-border strikes that forced tens of thousands of Israelis to flee their homes.

Hezbollah said on Thursday it was launching a new phase in its war against Israel, and that it had used precision-guided missiles against troops for the first time.

The war since late September has left at least 1,418 people dead in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures, though the real toll is likely higher.

The Israeli military has announced the deaths of 19 soldiers in combat in southern Lebanon.

The war has also drawn in other Iran-aligned armed groups, including in Yemen, Iraq and Syria.

Iran on October 1 conducted a missile strike on Israel, for which Israel has vowed to retaliate.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Friday said Sinwar will remain an inspiration for militants fighting Israel across the region.

"His fate -- beautifully pictured in his last image -- is not a deterrent but a source of inspiration for resistance fighters across the region, Palestinian and non-Palestinian," Araghchi said on X.

Hezbollah and Yemen's Houthi group both mourned the death of Sinwar, vowing continued support for their Palestinian ally Hamas.