Hamas ‘will survive key killing’

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says Hamas is alive and will survive despite the death of its leader Yahya Sinwar in an Israeli military operation in Gaza.

“His loss is certainly painful for the resistance front” against Israel, “but it will not end at all with the martyrdom of Sinwar”, Khamenei said.

The Palestinian Islamist movement “Hamas is alive and will remain alive”, he said on Saturday. Sinwar “was the shining figure of resistance and struggle”, Khamenei said in his first remarks on Sinwar – seen as the mastermind of the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel that sparked the Gaza war – since he was killed on Wednesday. “He stood with unwavering determination against the cruel and aggressive enemy and slapped them with tact and courage,” he said.

“He left behind the irreparable blow of October 7, 2023 as his legacy in the history of this region, and then he soared with honour and pride to the ascension of the martyrs.”

His declaration comes after Hamas vowed not to release hostages seized during its October 7 attack until the Gaza war ends. The killing of Sinwar, behind the deadliest attack in Israeli history, had raised hopes of a turning point in the war.