Israeli official says Hamas chief Sinwar killed in Gaza

Israel said Thursday it was checking whether it had killed Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar in a Gaza operation, in what would constitute a massive blow to the group it has been fighting since the Oct. 7, 2023 attack. 

Israel accuses Sinwar of masterminding the attack, the deadliest in Israeli history, and has been hunting him down since the start of the Gaza war.

He became the Palestinian militant group's new leader after the killing of its former political chief Ismail Haniyeh in July.

Hamas and Iran blame Israel for Haniyeh's killing in an attack in Tehran, but Israel has not commented on it. 

Israel's announcement on Sinwar comes weeks after it assassinated Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in a massive strike in Lebanon, where its military has escalated a war since late September.

A slew of other Iran-backed militant commanders have also been killed in recent months.

Israel said earlier this year that it had killed Mohammed Deif, Hamas's military chief, in a strike, though the Palestinian group has not confirmed it.

Deif stood accused of working with Sinwar to plan the Oct. 7 attack.

In a brief statement, the military said that during "operations in the Gaza Strip, three terrorists were eliminated".

Israeli defense agencies "are checking the possibility that one of the terrorists was Yahya Sinwar. At this stage, the identity of the terrorists cannot be confirmed," the statement added.

An Israeli security official told AFP that the military was conducting a DNA test on a militant's body to confirm whether it was Sinwar's.