Hamas confirms leader murdered by Israel | The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

JERUSALEM – Hamas confirmed Friday that its leader, Yahya Sinwar, was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza and reiterated its position that the hostages the militant group took from Israel a year ago will not be released until a ceasefire is in Gaza and a withdrawal of Israeli troops.

The group’s steadfast stance was pushed back against a statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a day earlier that his country’s army will continue fighting until the hostages are released and will remain in Gaza to prevent a severely weakened Hamas from rearming .

The conflicting positions indicate continued deep opposition on both sides to ending the war, even as President Joe Biden and other world leaders insist that Sinwar’s death is a turning point that should be used to jumpstart stalled ceasefire negotiations to bring.

The standoff comes as Israel’s war with Lebanese Hezbollah – an ally of Hamas backed by Iran – has intensified in recent weeks. Hezbollah said Friday it plans to launch a new phase of the battle by sending more guided missiles and exploding drones into Israel. The militant group’s longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli airstrike late last month, and Israel sent ground troops to Lebanon earlier this month.

Sinwar, the former leader of Hamas, died “in the confrontation with the occupying army until the last moment of his life,” said his Qatar-based deputy, Khalil al-Hayya, who represented Hamas during several rounds of ceasefire negotiations -fire. Hamas will not return any of the hostages, al-Hayya said, “until the end of the aggression against Gaza and the withdrawal from Gaza.”

Hamas praised Sinwar in a statement, calling him a hero for “not retreating, brandishing his weapon and attacking and confronting the occupying army at the forefront of its ranks.”

The statement appeared to refer to a video the Israeli army distributed of Sinwar’s apparent final moments, showing a man sitting on a chair in a badly damaged building, badly injured and covered in dust. In the video, the man raises his hand and throws a stick at an approaching Israeli drone.

Netanyahu planned to convene a special meeting on Friday to discuss the hostage negotiations, an Israeli official with knowledge of the negotiations said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential information.

The Israeli military said Friday it has allowed 30 trucks carrying food, water, medical and other supplies into northern Gaza as the country faces pressure from the US to boost aid. There was no immediate confirmation from the UN that aid was arriving and being distributed in the north.

In Lebanon, Hezbollah issued a statement early Friday saying that its fighters had deployed new types of precision-guided missiles and explosive drones against Israel for the first time in recent days.

The statement appeared to refer to an explosives-laden drone that evaded Israel’s multi-layered air defense system and crashed into a dining hall at a military training camp deep in Israel last Sunday, killing four soldiers and wounding dozens. The group announced earlier this week that it fired a new type of missile, called Qader 2, at the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

The Israeli army said on Friday it would activate an additional reserve brigade in the north of its country to support troops in southern Lebanon. Lebanon’s health ministry said six people were killed in the past 24 hours of fighting, bringing the death toll over the past year to 2,418, a quarter of whom were women and children.

On Friday, Israel said its forces killed two militants who crossed into Israeli territory south of the Dead Sea from neighboring Jordan. Such infiltrations are relatively rare, especially as Israel has stepped up border security since the Hamas attack in October 2023.

Information for this article was contributed by Bassem Mroue, Jon Gambrell and Josh Boak of The Associated Press.

FILE – Khalil al-Hayya, a senior Hamas official who has represented the Palestinian militant group in negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage agreement, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Istanbul, Turkey, on April 24. 2024. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra, file)

FILE – Yahya Sinwar, head of Hamas in Gaza, chairs a meeting with leaders of Palestinian factions at his office in Gaza City on April 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Adel Hana, File)

FILE – Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Friday, September 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith, File)