Israeli forces in Gaza killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, a chief architect of last year’s attack on Israel that sparked the war, the military said Thursday. Troops appeared to have run across him unknowingly in a battle,

Yahya Sinwar is dead. On Thursday, Israel confirmed it had killed the 62-year-old leader of Hamas in a strike in southern Gaza. Sinwar’s death is significant — for both the U.S.-designated terrorist group that he led and the Jewish state that he sought to destroy.

The Israeli military confirmed on Thursday that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the chief architect of the militant group’s deadly October 7, 2023, terror attack that set off the war in Gaza, had been killed in battle.