Death of Yahya Sinwar is latest in a series of killings since the beginning of the latest war in Gaza

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Israel on Thursday confirmed the death of the Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the architect of the 7 October 2023 attacks. The assassination was just the latest in a series of killings of senior Hamas leaders and other militants since that assault and the beginning of the war in Gaza.

Saleh al-Arouri, the deputy chair of Hamas’s guiding council and founding member, was killed in Beirut by a suspected Israeli air strike in January 2024. The 57-year-old was accused of running Hamas military operations in the occupied West Bank, and playing a key role in the group’s financial networks. Arouri was also believed to run relations between Hamas and other groups, including Hezbollah and the small Palestinian Islamic Jihad.