Updates: Israel claims killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza

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For a closer look at Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas chief that Israel claims to have killed, read here.

To know more about Al Jazeera’s cameraman Fadi al-Wahidi, who was shot by an Israeli sniper in the Gaza Strip this month and is now in a coma and prevented from leaving the enclave by the Israeli army, see here.

And for an Al Jazeera exclusive on Lebanese police trying to expel Syrian refugees amid Israeli attacks, check out this story.

But before leaving, let’s have a recap of the latest developments:

• The Israeli army says its forces killed Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar in an operation in southern Gaza on Wednesday. Hamas has not commented on Sinwar’s alleged death.
• The Israeli military released a video purporting to show Sinwar in his last moments – his face wrapped in a scarf and his hand wounded as he throws a stick at a drone trying to down it.
• Prime Minister Netanyahu has said Sinwar’s killing is “not the end of the war in Gaza”, but “the beginning of the end”, as he and President Biden agree there’s now an opportunity to secure the release of captives.
• Israel’s assault on Gaza continues, with at least 28 Palestinians killed and 160 wounded in an attack on a UN school sheltering displaced people in northern Jabalia.
• At least two people have been killed and nine injured in Yammoune village in the Baalbek region as Israel’s assault on Lebanon continues, while Israel’s army has announced the death of five soldiers in the country’s south.

The group says it targeted Israeli soldiers with artillery shells after spotting them on the outskirts of the town of Kfar Kila in Lebanon.

In a statement, it added that its forces bombed a gathering of Israeli soldiers on two occasions in the vicinity of the southern Lebanese village of Aita al-Shaab.

Earlier, we reported that Hezbollah announced a new phase of “escalation” against Israel, without elaborating on what that would entail.

We’ve been reporting all evening on Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, whom Israel claims to have killed.

His assassination – if confirmed – would spell uncertainty for the Palestinian group in Gaza.

Hamas has not commented on Israel’s claim of killing Sinwar, as the region slides into further violence, spurring fears of an all-out conflict across the Middle East.

Sinwar, 62, spent his life organising, struggling and fighting against Israel before being appointed as Hamas’s political chief, succeeding Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in a suspected Israeli attack in Tehran on July 31.

For more about him and his career in the Hamas organisation, read our full article here.

In a statement attributed to its military “operations room”, the Lebanese group stresses that it is inflicting heavy losses on the Israeli army and fending off its ground advances in south Lebanon.

Hezbollah has been using such updates to underscore the recovery of its capabilities and structure after several of its top leaders, including its chief Hassan Nasrallah, were assassinated by Israel.

Here’s what the latest statement said:

• Israel has amassed more than 70,000 soldiers and hundreds of military vehicles at the front lines that are being confronted by hundreds of Hezbollah fighters, who are luring them into deadly ambushes.
• Hezbollah is gradually escalating its rocket and drone attacks against Israeli troops alongside the border as well as deep inside Israel.
• About 55 Israeli soldiers have been killed in clashes since the start of the invasion last month, while more than 500 others have been injured.
• Hezbollah has destroyed 20 Merkava tanks, four military bulldozers and two surveillance drones.
• “In accordance with the leadership of the resistance, the operations room announces moving to a new escalatory phase in the confrontation” that will become clear in the coming days.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has given a speech in English to comment on the claimed killing of Sinwar.

“This is not the end of the war in Gaza. It’s is the beginning of the end,” Netanyahu said.

“This war can end tomorrow. It can end if Hamas lays down his arms and returns the hostages,” he said, directly addressing the people of Gaza.

Israel will guarantee the safety of all those who return the captives, but for those who arm them “Israel will hunt you down and bring you to justice”, the prime minister said.

He also addressed his message to the wider region saying that Iran’s axis of resistance was “collapsing before our eyes”.

Israeli officials, including Netanyahu, have sent out strong signals since news of Sinwar’s apparent killing broke that the country will continue to execute its war on Gaza.

The US president has landed in Berlin for a 24-hour trip. He’ll meet with the German chancellor, the prime minister of the UK, and the French president.

In the eyes of the United States, it’s time to move on to secure a ceasefire in Israel’s war in Gaza.

In the words of the US president, it’s time for this war to end and to bring the Israeli captives home.

The US President says he is sending his Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the region and Israel in the next four or five days. He will discuss and work out with his Israeli counterpart and the Israeli government what the United States is now calling the ‘day after’.

When reporters asked him about his feelings about the prospect of securing a ceasefire, the US president said he was hopeful.

The Israeli army’s spokesperson Daniel Hagari has spoken to reporters about the killing of the Hamas leader.

Here are the key points of his news conference:

• The Israeli soldiers identified three fighters who were fleeing from house to house.
• After being shot at by the Israeli forces, the group split.
• Sinwar fled alone to a building where the Israeli army sent a drone.
• Sinwar, wounded in his hand from the shooting, is seen throwing what looks like a stick towards the drone.
• After being killed, he was found with a protective vest, a gun and 40,000 shekels.
• In the past months, the Israeli army had found his DNA in an underground tunnel a few hundred metres from the one where six captives had been killed in August.

A video posted on the Israeli army’s website purports to show a man, his face wrapped in a scarf, sitting alone on an armchair inside a heavily damaged apartment. He stares at the drone and throws the stick which falls on the ground. The video ends.

Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), has hit back at what he described as “disinformation campaigns” related to the agency on X.

In a post, he stated, “Once again, unchecked information is used to discredit UNRWA [and] its staff.”

“Earlier today, reports circulated on social [and] Israeli media that an UNRWA staff member was killed together with the Hamas head in Gaza,” he wrote.

“I confirm that the staff member in question is alive. He currently lives in Egypt, where he travelled with his family in April through the Rafah border,” he said, adding it was “time to put an end to disinformation campaigns”.

Earlier this year, Israel alleged that some of the agency’s staff participated in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks on Israel, leading more than a dozen international donors to suspend support.

The UN launched an investigation into Israel’s accusations and dismissed nine staff, while the records of others were still being reviewed. However, most donors have since reinstated funding.

And, recently, the Israeli parliament introduced legislation that would effectively ban the organisation from operating in Israel.

Bernie Sanders has issued a statement in the wake of the Hamas leader’s reported death, saying, “There is now no justification for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his extremist government to continue their all-out war against the Palestinian people.”

“There is no justification for further delaying a hostage deal and a ceasefire,” Sanders’s statement continued.

“And there is absolutely no justification for continued US support for Netanyahu’s horrific policies, which are in clear violation of US and international law.”

Sanders has been Israel’s chief critic in the US Senate throughout the war on Gaza.

Here is the moment the Israeli PM issued a televised address following the reported killing of Sinwar:

This is what President Joe Biden said after Israel claimed the killing of Sinwar.

The development made him feel more hopeful about the prospect of a ceasefire, he said after landing in Germany.

Biden also said it was time for the war to end and for captives held in Gaza to be returned home.

Despite the rhetoric from US officials after news of Sinwar’s killing, the US continues to supply Israel with weapons and diplomatic cover while it executes its deadly war on the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

The US secretary of state is planning to travel to the Middle East in the coming days to discuss ways to push for a deal on captives and a ceasefire in Gaza, US news outlet Axios has reported.

Some civilians in Gaza received the news of Sinwar’s claimed killing with sadness but also with pride, noting that his death would not translate into an end to the conflict.

“Sinwar is the only leader who said no to Israel, but his death does not mean stopping the war. Israel targets every child, woman and man in Gaza, and not just Sinwar,” said Hamza al-Kurd, 50, displaced from the north of Gaza to a makeshift camp in Deir el-Balah.

“Sinwar was a caring father to us. He was killed on the battlefield, engaged and fighting for his people and his land,” Salah Musleh, 30, said.

The Hamas leader’s killing “will not stop the war because it is a war on the Palestinian cause and Palestinian existence.”

US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have agreed that there is now an opportunity to promote the release of the captives, the Israeli prime minister’s office has said in a statement.

Speaking over the phone, the two leaders also said they “will work together to achieve this goal.”