JERUSALEM — Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed by Israeli soldiers after they engaged and killed three militants during ground operations in Gaza on Thursday, Foreign Minister Israel Katz said.

"This is a significant military and moral achievement for Israel and a victory for the entire free world against the axis of evil of radical Islam led by Iran," Katz said in a statement.

"The elimination of Sinwar 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."

Earlier on Thursday, the IDF said the identities of the three militants killed had not been confirmed right away and that it was “checking the possibility” that one of them was Sinwar.

Money, documents and weapons were found on the bodies of the militants, according to a joint IDF and Shin Bet statement.

The Israeli army retrieved the bodies for a DNA test. Israel has Sinwar's DNA and biometric data, including dental records, on file from his time spent in an Israeli jail.

The units that engaged the three militants were not participating in an assassination operation and did not have knowledge of Sinwar's presence there.

"In the building where the terrorists were eliminated, there were no signs of the presence of hostages in the area," the IDF added.

The operation took place in the Gazan city of Rafah, Israeli military radio said. Drone footage released by Israeli authorities late Thursday showed a seemingly injured militant, said to be Sinwar, throwing what looks like a piece of wood at the UAV.

He is said to have been killed by a precision drone strike.

Although there had been no official confirmation of Sinwar's death by Thursday afternoon, domestic media in Israel reported that a number of defence and security sources were "increasingly confident" he had been killed.

Meanwhile, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in a post on X that Israel's "enemies cannot hide". "We will pursue and eliminate them," he added.

Sinwar, a secretive figure who led Hamas' hardliners and is close to Iran, was one of the chief architects of Hamas’ attack on Israel on 7 October.

He was at the top of Israel’s kill list after the attack, which left 1,200 people dead and about 250 taken hostage.

Sinwar was born in 1962 in a refugee camp in Khan Yunis in Gaza. As an early member of Hamas — formed in 1987 — he was in charge of the militant group's security branch, known for its cruelty against those it suspected of spying for Israel, earning him the "Butcher of Khan Yunis" moniker.

Having spent half of his adult life in Israeli jails, Sinwar steadily rose to power in the organization since his release in 2011.

He was chosen as the group’s top leader following the assassination of Ismael Haniyeh in July in an apparent Israeli strike in the Iranian capital Tehran.

Unlike Haniyeh, who had lived in exile in Qatar for years, Sinwar remained in Gaza. As Hamas' leader in the territory since 2017, he rarely appeared in public but kept an iron grip on Hamas' rule.

Last month, people close to him told Reuters he remained unrepentant about the 7 October attacks and the resulting Israeli year-long offensive in Gaza. — Euronews