Israel announced the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. (Source: EP)

On October 17, AFP news agency quoted Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz in a statement sent to the media stating the above information, while the country's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called on Hamas militants to release hostages and surrender.

The Israeli military also announced that Sinwar's body had been returned to Israel and identified through DNA testing and comparison of dental records.

In a speech later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared: “Hamas will no longer rule Gaza. This is the beginning of the post-Hamas era.”

Mr. Sinwar was recently appointed head of Hamas after the group's leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated last July.

After receiving the above information, on the same day, US President Joe Biden declared that the killing of Yahya Sinwar was "a good day for Israel, America and the world", recalling that dozens of Americans were killed or taken hostage in the attack planned by Sinwar.

Mr. Biden compared this day to the day of killing Al-Qaeda terrorist network leader Osama bin Laden in 2011, emphasizing that Sinwar's death is an opportunity to end the war in Gaza, bringing a better future for both Israelis and Palestinians.

In another development, also on October 17, the Hamas-run Gaza media agency said that at least 28 Palestinians were killed and 160 others were injured in an Israeli airstrike on a school converted into a shelter in the city of Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on the same day.

Fires broke out in tents set up by displaced people in the schoolyard after the bombing, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported. Several injured people were taken to hospitals in northern Gaza as ambulance crews were unable to reach the scene.

According to the Israeli military, its air force carried out a "precision strike" on a gathering of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) militants in northern Gaza. The site was formerly the Abu Hassan school.

At the same time, the Israeli army also released a list of 12 Palestinian militants present at the target of the airstrike. According to Palestinian statistics, Israeli attacks since October last year have killed 42,438 people in Gaza.