Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip Yahya Sinwar speaks during a rally marking Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day, in Gaza City, April 14, 2023. (AFP Photo)

Beirut, October 18 (RHC)-- Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has been martyred in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza's Rafah city, a senior Hamas official confirmed.  Khalil Hayya, head of Hamas in Gaza, released a statement on Friday, a day after reports of Sinwar's martyrdom. 

Speaking in a televised address, Hayya commemorated “the memory of the fallen martyr, Yahya Sinwar,” describing him as “steadfast, brave and intrepid.”   Sinwar “sacrificed his life to the cause of our liberation,” he added.

“He met his end standing brave, with his head held high, holding his firearm, firing until the last breath, until the last moment of his life," said the Hamas official.

“[Sinwar] has lived his whole life as a holy fighter.  Since his early days, he was engaged in his struggle as a resistant fighter.  He stood defiant behind Israeli bars and after his release in a swap deal, he continued with his struggle and his dedication to the cause.”

The charismatic leader of the Palestinian resistance movement had escaped many assassination attempts before and after Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7, 2023,

Sinwar, 62, played an instrumental role in coordinating and supervising the landmark operation that jolted the Zionist regime.   Before becoming the Hamas leader in Gaza in 2017, Sinwar spent 22 years in an Israeli prison. He was released as part of a prisoner swap in 2011.

“Hamas will never abandon the path of resistance… Our resistance will continue until the liberation of all of Palestine,” he declared during a speech in Gaza in late October 2017.

Sinwar had been chosen as the overall Hamas leader after Israel's assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in July.  Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran, where he was to attend the inauguration ceremony of new Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.