JERUSALEM (AP) — Hamas confirmed Friday that it is Leader, Yahya Sinwarwas killed by Israeli forces in Gaza, and the militant group reiterated its stance that hostages kidnapped from Israel a year ago will not be released until there is a ceasefire in Gaza and a withdrawal of Israeli troops.

Sinwar died “until the last moment of his life fighting the occupying army,” said Khalil al-Hayya, who was Sinwar’s deputy in Qatar and represented Hamas in several rounds of ceasefire negotiations.

Hamas would not return any of the hostages, he said, “until the end of the aggression against Gaza and the withdrawal from Gaza.”

Hamas hailed Sinwar in a statement, calling him a hero for “not retreating, brandishing his weapon and fighting and confronting the occupying army on the front lines.”

The statement appeared to refer to a video distributed by the Israeli military of Sinwar’s apparent final moments, in which a man sits on a chair in a badly damaged building, seriously wounded and covered in dust. In the video, the man raises his hand and throws a stick at an approaching Israeli drone.

Sinwar’s killing, which appeared to coincide with Israeli troops on the front lines on Wednesday, could change the dynamics of the Gaza war, even as Israel continues to push for it Offensive against Hezbollah with ground troops in southern Lebanon and Airstrikes in other parts of the country. Since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas, Hezbollah has fired rockets into Israel almost every day.

Both Hamas and Hezbollah are supported by Iranin which Sinwar was celebrated as a martyr who can inspire others to challenge Israel.

Israel is committed to politically destroying Hamas in Gaza, and killing Sinwar was a top military priority. Photos apparently taken by Israeli troops at the scene showed the body of a man who appeared to be himself, half-buried in rubble and with a gaping wound on his head.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “our war is not over yet” in a speech announcing the killing on Thursday evening.

But many, from the governments of Israel’s allies to exhausted Gazans, expressed hope that Sinwar’s death would pave the way for an end to the war.

In Israel, families of hostages still held in the Gaza Strip demanded that the Israeli government use Sinwar’s killing to restart negotiations to repatriate their relatives. There are still around 100 hostages in Gaza, of whom Israel says at least 30 are dead.

“We are at a turning point where the goals set for the war with Gaza have been achieved, except for the release of the hostages,” Ronen Neutra, father of Israeli-American hostage Omer Neutra, said in a video statement. “Sinwar, who was described as a key obstacle to a deal, is no longer alive.”

Netanyahu planned to call a special meeting on Friday to discuss the hostage-taking negotiations, an Israeli official with knowledge of the negotiations said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential information.

The Iranian mission to the United Nations issued a statement honoring Sinwar, emphasizing that he died on the battlefield and did not hide, unlike their former enemy, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, who was hanged in 2006.

“As U.S. forces pulled a disheveled Saddam Hussein from an underground hole, he pleaded with them not to kill him despite arming him. Those who looked to Saddam as their model of resistance eventually collapsed,” the statement said. “However, when Muslims look up to the martyr Sinwar standing on the battlefield – in battle dress and in the open air, not in hiding, facing the enemy – the spirit of resistance is strengthened.”

More than a million people on both sides were killed during the brutal Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, which began when Hussein launched an invasion of Iran.

In Lebanon, the militant Hezbollah group, which has been firing rockets at Israel since the Gaza war broke out in October last year, issued a statement early Friday saying its fighters had used new types of precision-guided rockets and explosive drones against Israel for the first time in the last few days.

Hezbollah’s statement appeared to refer to one drone loaded with explosives that evaded Israel’s complex air defense system and slammed into the mess hall of a military training camp deep inside Israel last Sunday, killing four soldiers and wounding dozens.

The group also announced earlier this week that it had fired a new type of rocket called the Qader 2 at the suburbs of Tel Aviv.

The Israeli military said it would deploy an additional reserve brigade to its north to support troops fighting in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah said its fighters were working according to “pre-prepared plans” to fight invading Israeli troops in several parts of southern Lebanon. Several rocket and artillery attacks were also announced overnight and on Friday morning against Israeli forces operating in villages in the southern Lebanon border area.

In one instance, the group said it fired heavy rocket fire at Israeli soldiers trying to evacuate the wounded from an earlier attack. The group also said it fired “large volleys of rockets” at a military barracks in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights and at the Zvulun area north of Haifa.

Earlier this week, Hezbollah’s acting leader Naim Qassem warned that the group would continue to attack larger areas of Israel, which it has targeted with rockets almost daily since Hamas’ deadly incursion last year.

As Israel battled militants in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, the military said on Friday that its forces had killed two militants who crossed into Israeli territory south of the Dead Sea from neighboring Jordan.

Such infiltrations are relatively rare, especially since Israel has increased border security since the Hamas attack in October 2023.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas militants led blew holes in the Israeli security fence and stormed in, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping another 250. of Israel Offensive in Gaza Over 42,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to local health authorities, which do not distinguish between combatants and civilians. The war has destroyed large parts of Gaza and displaced about 90% of its 2.3 million residents.

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Sewell reported from Beirut. Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this