Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz has confirmed that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who was described as the mastermind behind last year’s Oct 7 attack against the country, has been killed.

According to the BBC, the minister said this was a “significant military and moral achievement for Israel and a victory for the entire free world”.

“The elimination of Sinwar (above) opens the possibility for the immediate release of the hostages and paves the way for a change that will lead to a new reality in Gaza - without Hamas and without Iranian control,” he added.

BBC’s security correspondent Frank Gardner termed Sinwar’s death as a “seismic blow” to Hamas.

“When the group chose him to replace (Ismail) Haniyeh, the leader of their political wing assassinated on July 31, it was a deliberate act of defiance and resilience. It could not have chosen a more uncompromising figure.

“But Hamas, like Hezbollah in Lebanon, has seen its leadership eliminated one by one, its fighters killed and its arms dumps blown up,” he added.

The BBC quoted the Israeli Defence Forces claiming that Sinwar was killed by its troops during an operation south of Gaza on Wednesday.

Former Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh

Earlier, BBC reported that Israeli authorities were checking if Sinwar had been killed through dental images and DNA testing.

The samples were compared to records Israel possessed due to Sinwar spending 22 years in an Israeli prison.

According to The Guardian, Sinwar, 61, was born in the Khan Younis refugee camp in southern Gaza and joined Hamas soon after the group was founded.

In 1989, he was sentenced to four life sentences for the abduction and killing of two Israeli soldiers and four Palestinians he suspected of collaboration.

In August, Sinwar was named as the replacement of Ismail Haniyeh who was assassinated in Tehran, Iran.

Israel believes that Sinwar was responsible for the planning and execution of the Oct 7, 2023, attacks which left over 1,200 people dead and ignited the current conflict in the Middle East, which has claimed more than 40,000 lives.