The bodies of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and others who died with him were spotted by drone in the rubble of Gaza on Thursday, after a tank struck the building on Wednesday, a source familiar with Sinwar's killing told CNN.
It was only when Israeli soldiers entered the building and approached the bodies that they began to suspect that Sinvar was among the dead, the source added.
The Israeli army was carrying out a "routine operation" on Wednesday when they noticed the movement, and an Israeli tank then opened fire on the building, the source said.
US President Joe Biden spoke with Benjamin Netanyahu and congratulated the Israeli prime minister on the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, reports Axios.
Both leaders "agreed that there is an opportunity for progress in the negotiations on the release of the hostages and that they will work together to achieve that goal," Netanyahu's office said in a statement.
Lebanon's crisis response unit said 45 people were killed and 179 wounded in Israeli attacks in the last 24 hours in the country.
The latest figures bring the total number of people killed in clashes between Israel and Hezbollah over the past year to 2.412, according to Lebanon's health ministry. In addition, 11.285 people were injured.
The report noted 96 airstrikes and shelling in the past day, mostly concentrated in southern Lebanon and Nabati province.
Opposition Israeli politician Benny Gantz said the "mission is not over" and that the Israeli army "will continue to operate in the Gaza Strip for years to come."
"Israel must use Sinwar's death to return the hostages and replace the rule of Hamas," he added.
The Israeli military said Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was "eliminated" on Wednesday in Tel Sultan, a settlement in Gaza's southernmost city, Rafah.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken echoed the statements of his spokesman Matthew Miller, saying that Washington will redouble its efforts in the coming days to end the conflict in Gaza following the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
In a statement, Blinken described Sinvar as "a cruel and irredeemable terrorist responsible for the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust."
"The world is a better place without him," said the US secretary of state.
"Today we remember the victims of Sinwar's unspeakable crimes and hope that his death brings them some measure of justice. The United States stands with Israel in its efforts to bring to justice those responsible for the events of October 7 and to ensure that such an attack never happens again," he added. is Blinken.
US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris said she hoped the news that Israel had killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar would bring "a sense of relief" to the families of the victims of the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
"Justice has been served. This moment gives us an opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza," Harris told reporters in Milwaukee.
US President Joe Biden said that the death of Yahja Sinvar represents a moment of relief for the Israelis, while it provides an opportunity for "the day after" in Gaza without that militant group in power.
"Yahja Sinwar was an insurmountable obstacle to achieving all those goals. That obstacle no longer exists. But we still have a lot of work ahead of us," Biden said in a statement.
"I will soon speak with Prime Minister Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders to congratulate them, to discuss a path to return the hostages to their families and to end this war once and for all, which has caused so much devastation to innocent people," he added.
Israeli police said DNA tests carried out by the police forensic service confirmed that the body of a person killed in an Israeli operation in Gaza belonged to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
"The police forensic service has completed DNA testing, which also confirmed the identification of Yahja Sinvar," said a spokesman for the Israeli police, according to the Guardian.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog praised the Israeli military, Shin Bet security service and intelligence agencies for killing Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
On Platform X, Herzog labeled Sinvar as the main organizer of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 last year and "responsible for heinous acts of terrorism against Israeli civilians" for years.
"His evil efforts are dedicated to terror, bloodshed and destabilization of the Middle East," the Israeli president said.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said "evil has been dealt a heavy blow" but warned that "the task before us is not yet complete," speaking at a news conference after the Israeli military said it had killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
He described Sinvar's death as "the beginning of the end" and said Israel would continue to work until the end of the war.
"Today we showed that this is exactly what happens to everyone who tries to harm us. And that the forces of good can always defeat the forces of evil and darkness. The war still continues and costs a lot," added the Prime Minister of Israel.
Addressing the people of his country, Netanyahu said that "we are facing many challenges" and that "we must remain resilient" and "stand firm on our ground and continue to fight," the Guardian reports.
"We will not end the war. We will enter Rafa," he said.
Netanyahu addressed the families of the hostages still being held in Gaza, saying Israel would continue "with all its might" until they are returned home.
"That is our obligation. This is the end of the evil rule of Hamas. I will tell you in a clear way: Hamas will no longer rule the Gaza Strip. Today we have settled our accounts," he said.
The teeth prints helped Israel identify the body of slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, a US official and former official familiar with the situation told CNN, along with other biometric data.
Confirmation based on dental impressions could be done relatively quickly, the official said.
The Israeli government has Sinvar's biometric data because he spent more than two decades in an Israeli prison for murder.
The Times of Israel writes that Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz addressed dozens of foreign ministers around the world in a message confirming the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
"The mass murderer Yahja Sinvar, who is responsible for the massacre and atrocities of October 7, was killed today by IDF soldiers. This is a great military and moral victory for Israel and a victory for the entire free world against the evil axis of radical Islam led by Iran" , Kac stated in the message.
He said, according to The Times of Israel, that the killing "opens up the possibility" for the swift release of the hostages and the creation of a Gaza free of Hamas and Iranian control.
"Israel now more than ever needs your support and help to advance these important goals together," said Kac.
The Israeli army said it killed Yahya Sinwar in an operation in southern Gaza on Wednesday.
"After the completion of the identification process of the body, it can be confirmed that Jahja Sinvar has been eliminated," said the statement reported by Reuters.
According to Reuters, Israel's foreign minister, Israel Katz, said Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was dead.
Israel has confirmed to US officials that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is dead according to the first DNA tests, a source familiar with the situation said, the Guardian reports.
Further tests are underway.
It's still unclear how or if the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar will affect the Gaza ceasefire and hostage negotiations, multiple officials told CNN.
An Israeli government official said Sinwar's elimination would help efforts to secure a deal to release the remaining hostages in Gaza. Discussions on the implications of Sinwar's death for the hostage negotiations will take place in the coming days, the official added.
However, others warned that the lack of a clear, immediate successor could also complicate the situation and put the hostages at risk. An Israeli source familiar with the situation said there were also concerns that chaos within the ranks of Hamas could follow Sinwar's death.
There are concerns that, in the absence of clear leadership, the hostages could be killed, either out of revenge or for lack of a plan on what to do with them.
Israel's police and military said that in response to recent reports of the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, they are "actively working to establish a definitive identification," Reuters reports.
According to Reuters, Israeli police say dental scans have been submitted to a police forensics laboratory and DNA testing is underway. It is added that, after the completion of those processes, "they will be able to confirm the murder".
Reuters also reports that Hamas sources say there are indications suggesting that Sinwar was killed in an Israeli operation in Gaza.
A forum of families of hostages held in the Gaza Strip called today for an agreement on their release after it was announced that the leader of the Palestinian Hamas was probably killed in an Israeli military operation.
"While respecting the significant achievement (Sinwar's murder), the families of the hostages express serious concern for the fate of the 101 hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza and demand that the Government (of Israel) provide an urgent agreement on their return," the Forum statement said.
In addition, it was assessed that "the elimination of Sinvar is an important milestone towards a real victory that will only be achieved by the return of the 101 abducted".
The Hostage Families Forum reminds that for a year the Government of Israel has not been able to release the hostages and calls on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to instruct the negotiating team to secure an urgent agreement on this matter.
"There is not and will not be a complete victory without the release of all the abductees," the statement concluded.
Israeli media previously announced that three extremists, one of whom looks like Sinvar, were killed in yesterday's Israeli military operation in Gaza.
It was emphasized that the hostages were not nearby, although it was previously reported that Sinvar was surrounded by hostages, and that he was using them as human shields.
In an attack by Palestinian extremists led by Hamas on October 7 last year, around 1.200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and more than 250 hostages were kidnapped and taken to Gaza.
It is believed that around a hundred of them are still detained and that a third are no longer alive.
The Israeli army is verifying whether Sinvar was killed, and Israeli media reports that a DNA sample was taken to confirm this, but his body was not brought back from Gaza.
A disaster is happening in the Middle East, and Israel is attacking the United Nations (UN) on all fronts, said the high representative of the European Union for foreign policy and security, Joseph Borelj.
"What is happening there is a disaster. The chronicling of the humanitarian crisis. At least 18 children are without parents. Twenty percent of the population of Lebanon must leave, and only 400 children must leave their homes in Lebanon," Borelj said, ahead of the meeting of the leaders of the European Union. of the Union in Brussels.
He said that he hopes that the countries and the Council of Europe will strongly condemn the attacks by Israeli forces on the UN mission in Lebanon.
"The UN is being attacked on all fronts by the Israeli government," Borelj said, Anadolia reports.
The UN mission in the Gaza Strip, he added, is considered a terrorist organization and is prohibited from operating on Israeli territory.
"The UN troops were attacked," Borelj said, adding that UN missions have their tasks.
Speaking about the Russian-Ukrainian war and the victory plan that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently presented, Borelj said that it is necessary to have a connection between the victory plan and the peace plan.
"In order to win war and peace, both things must go together. That's why we have to support Ukraine, not only from a military point of view, but also from a civilian point of view," said Borelj, stating that it is an "existential war" and that Russia "an existential threat to Europe".
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