'Prisoners won't return until ... ': Hamas leader Khalil Hayya confirms Yahya Sinwar's death

Hamas leader Khalil Hayya on Friday confirmed the death of its leader Yahya Sinwar and said that the prisoners would not be allowed to return until the war in Gaza was brought to an end.

"We mourn the great leader, the martyred brother, Yahya Sinwar, Abu Ibrahim," Qatar-based Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya said in a video statement broadcast by Al Jazeera.

On Israeli hostages, Hayya said, “The occupation prisoners will not return unless the aggression on Gaza stops, there is a complete withdrawal from [Gaza], and our prisoners are released from the prisons.”

“Hamas will continue until the establishment of the Palestinian state on all Palestinian soil with Jerusalem as its capital,” he added.

Adding that Sinwar's death would strengthen the group, Hayya said, "Yahya Sinwar and all the leaders and symbols of the movement who preceded him on the path of dignity and martyrdom and the project of liberation and return will only build our movement and resistance in strength."

Israel on Thursday confirmed that IDF had killed the October 7 mastermind, that had killed over 1,200 Israelis and led to 250 hostages, Yahya Sinwar. The counter attacks by Israel on Gaza has led to the killing of over 42,500, with 99,546 others wounded.