Hamas vowed on Friday it would not release Israeli hostages it seized on October 7 until the Gaza war ends, as it mourned the death of its leader Yahya Sinwar.

The Palestine Liberation Organisation also expressed its condolences over the ‘martyrdom of the great national leader Yahya Sinwar.’

The killing of Sinwar had raised hopes of a turning point in the war, including for families of Israeli hostages and Gazans enduring a dire humanitarian crisis.

However, as Hamas official Khalil Al Hayya mourned Sinwar in a video statement, he reiterated the Palestinian group’s position that no hostages would be released “unless the aggression against our people in Gaza stops.”

Hamas had earlier announced that Yahya Sinwar was martyred in an armed clash with the Israeli occupation forces in the Tel Al Sultan neighbourhood in Rafah.

Khalil Al Haya, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, confirmed in a video speech that Sinwar was martyred in a clash with the occupation forces. He added that Hamas will continue its path until the establishment of a Palestinian state on all Palestinian land with Jerusalem as its capital.

He said that the late head of the political bureau continued to give after leaving the occupation prisons, adding that Sinwar was a continuation of the caravan of martyrs in the footsteps of the founding father Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

Al Haya emphasized that the blood of the martyrs will continue to be a motive for steadfastness and that the martyrdom of the head of Hamas' political bureau and previous leaders will only make the movement stronger and more solid. 

“We always thought that when this moment arrived, the war would end and our lives would return to normal. But unfortunately, the reality on the ground is quite the opposite. The war hasn’t stopped, and the killings continue unabated,” Jemaa Abou Mendi, a 21-year-old Gaza resident, was quoted as saying by AFP.

US President Joe Biden, whose government is Israel’s top arms provider, said Sinwar’s death was ‘an opportunity to seek a path to peace, a better future in Gaza without Hamas.’

In a joint statement, Biden and the leaders of Germany, France, and Britain emphasised “the immediate necessity to bring the hostages home to their families, for ending the war in Gaza, and ensure humanitarian aid reaches civilians.”

Israel’s campaign to decimate Hamas and bring back the hostages has killed 42,500 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to data from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures which the UN considers reliable.

A ‘conservative’ estimate puts the death toll among children in Gaza at over 14,100.

Criticism has been mounting over the civilian toll and lack of food and aid reaching Gaza, where the UN has warned of famine.

Israel is also fighting a war with Hezbollah in Lebanon. The two sides had exchanged rocket fire since October 7, with Israel sending ground troops across the Lebanese border last month.