Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold talks about hostages after Hamas chief killed

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold a security meeting to try and progress hostage negotiations after the IDF declared Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar was killed. See photos, video.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared the killing of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar in the Gaza Strip as the “beginning of the end” of the year-long war in the Palestinian territory.

Mr Netanyahu will convene a special security meeting in Tel Aviv Friday according to Hebrew media reports.

The meeting will focus on the possibility of progress in hostage deal negotiations after Sinwar’s death.

The Israeli military said that after a lengthy hunt, troops had “eliminated Yahya Sinwar, the leader of the Hamas terrorist organisation, in an operation in the southern Gaza Strip”.

Mr Netanyahu, who vowed to crush Hamas at the start of the war, hailed Sinwar’s killing, saying: “While this is not the end of the war in Gaza, it’s the beginning of the end.” He had earlier called Sinwar’s death an “important landmark in the decline of the evil rule of Hamas”.

The chief of Hamas in Gaza at the time of the October 7 attack that sparked the war, Sinwar became the militant group’s overall leader after the killing in July of its political chief, Ismail Haniyeh.

People walk past the remains of buildings destroyed in Israeli airstrikes in Nabatieh, Lebanon. Picture: Getty Images

Israel’s announcement of Sinwar’s death comes weeks after it assassinated Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in a strike in Lebanon, where the Israeli military has been at war since late September.

The IDF also said it killed the commander of Hezbollah’s Taybeh compound Mohammad Hussein Ramal in an airstrike in southern Lebanon.

With Hamas already weakened more than a year into the Gaza war, Sinwar’s death deals an immense blow to the organisation.

US President Joe Biden, whose government is Israel’s top arms provider, said: “This is a good day for Israel, for the United States, and for the world.”

“There is now the opportunity for a ‘day after’ in Gaza without Hamas in power, and for a political settlement that provides a better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike.”

Vice President Kamala Harris said: “This moment gives us an opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza.”

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