Live updates: Hamas confirms Sinwar’s death as Israel considers next steps in Gaza

Pro-Iranian groups across the Middle East condemned and mourned on Friday the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who was killed in a shootout in Gaza with Israeli soldiers on Wednesday. They vowed retaliation against Israel, which has been celebrating the elimination of its main target since the October 7 attacks last year.

On Friday, Khalil al-Hayya, the deputy chairman of Hamas’s political bureau, said in a televised speech that Sinwar “met his end bravely, with his head held high.” Al-Hayya added that Sinwar’s death “will only increase the strength and resilience of our movement.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi mourned Sinwar’s death on the X platform on Friday. “His fate,” he wrote, “is not a deterrent but a source of inspiration for resistance fighters across the region, Palestinians and non-Palestinians.”

Houthi spokesman Mohammad Abdul Salam also offered his condolences to X. He described Sinwar as “heroic epics composed in the confrontation with the criminal Israeli entity.”

Gulf Arab leaders have not commented on Sinwar’s death. The late Hamas leader had accused Arab governments, especially the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, of “betraying” the Palestinian cause by seeking normalization with Israel.