‘Hamas will remain alive’ despite Yahya Sinwar’s death, vows Iran’s supreme leader

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday that Hamas was alive and will survive despite the death of its leader Yahya Sinwar in an Israeli military operation in Gaza.

“His loss is certainly painful for the resistance front” against Israel, “but it will not end at all with the martyrdom of Sinwar”, Khamenei said.

The Palestinian Islamist movement “Hamas is alive and will remain alive”, he said in a statement.

Sinwar “was the shining figure of resistance and struggle”, Khamenei said in his first remarks on Sinwar – seen as the mastermind of the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel that sparked the Gaza war – since he was killed on Wednesday.

“He stood with unwavering determination against the cruel and aggressive enemy and slapped them with tact and courage,” he added.