The latest on Hamas leader’s death and war in the Middle East | CNN (2024)

The Israeli military issued evacuation warnings early on Sundayfor areas in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

“Urgent warning to the residents of the southern suburb of al Dahiyeh,” the Israeli military’s Arabic spokesperson said on X, referring to attached maps of two buildings, one in Hraik neighborhood and the other in Hadath, both in Beirut.

Avichay Adraee called on residents to evacuate the buildings and the area around them in a radius of at least 500 meters, saying the Israeli military will operate there “in the near future” against what it says are “Hezbollah facilities and interests.”

According to the map posted by Adraee, one of the buildings is near a hospital and a mosque inHraik neighborhood.

Israel has been accused of killing at least 73 people in a strike on Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Government Information Office in the strip.

The office said Israeli forces had bombed a densely populated residential area, calling the attack a “horrific massacre” and saying that most of the victims were women and children. Dozens of people were missing and wounded, it added.

CNN cannot independently verify these figures, which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) dispute as exaggerated and inconsistent with its data.

The IDF said its operation targeted a Hamas terror site and insisted it was making efforts to avoid civilian casualties.

The US is investigating a leak of highly classified US intelligence about Israel’s plans for retaliation against Iran, according to three people familiar with the matter. One of the sources confirmed the documents’ authenticity.

The leak is “deeply concerning,” a US official told CNN.

Here’s what else you should know:

Strikes across the region:

Drone launched toward Netanyahu’s home:

More reaction to Sinwar’s death:

More headlines:

Israeli security forces gather behind a barrier near Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence in Caesaria, Israel, on October 19.

Iran has denied involvement in Saturday’s drone launch toward Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in Caesaria, saying it was “carried out by Hezbollah in Lebanon.”

Netanyahu had earlier said that “agents of Iran” were behind the attack and would “pay a heavy price.”

But the Iranian permanent mission to the United Nations dismissed the claim, saying Iran had “already responded to the Israeli regime,” according to state news agency IRNA.

Responding to a question about the attack on Netanyahu’s residence, it said, “The action in question has been carried out by Hezbollah in Lebanon.”

Hezbollah, which is backed by Tehran, has not claimed responsibility.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks during a press conference on October 18 in Berlin.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Saturday, according to a Downing Street spokesperson.

Starmer said the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is an opportunity to stop the fighting in Gaza and get the hostages out. He added that Sinwar was “a brutal terrorist and that the world is a better place without him.”

Starmer also told the Israeli leader he was “alarmed” to hear about a drone launched at his home in Caesarea Saturday morning.

The two prime ministers discussed the “importance of making progress on a political solution” regarding the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, according to Downing Street.

Demonstrators block a major thoroughfare in Tel Aviv on October 19, to protest against the government and demand a ceasefire deal.

Huge crowds of protesters gathered in several cities across Israel Saturday, demanding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government make the return of hostages in Gaza their top priority.

In Tel Aviv, people protested outside the Israel Defense Forces’ headquarters, blocking traffic and chanting anti-government slogans.

Eran Nissan, a peace activist from the progressive Israeli group Mehazkim, has been attending anti-government rallies since January last year. On Saturday, he was handing out T-shirts and stickers with derogatory messages about Israel’s far-right security minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

Nissansaid a ceasefire-for-hostages deal was the central demand of the protests. “The issue of hostages is the first, the second and the third priority,” he told CNN, adding that he believed the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar on Wednesday presented an opportunity to finally agree to a deal.

There are 101 hostages still held in Gaza, Israeli authorities say, but as many as one-third of them are thought to be dead.

He added that he believed the current government had an interest in prolonging the war.

The large-scale protests Saturday were among the first in Israel since the government banned large gatherings citing security concerns following the October 1 Iranian ballistic missile attack, which Iran said was a response to thekilling of Hezbollah leaderHassanNasrallah.

Aerial view of the Pentagon in Washington, DC, on March 31.

The US is investigating a leak of highly classified US intelligence about Israel’s plans for retaliation against Iran, according to three people familiar with the matter. One of the people familiar confirmed the documents’ authenticity.

The leak is “deeply concerning,” a US official told CNN.

The documents, dated October 15 and 16, began circulating online on Friday after being posted on Telegram by an account called Middle East Spectator.

They are marked as top secret and have markings indicating that they are only meant to be seen by the US and its Five Eyes allies: Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK.

They describe preparations Israel appears to be making for a strike against Iran. One of the documents, which says it was compiled by the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, says the plans involve Israel moving munitions around.

Another document says it is sourced to the National Security Agency and outlines Israeli Air Force exercises involving air-to-surface missiles, also believed to be in preparation for a strike on Iran.CNN is not quoting directly or showing the documents.

Investigation underway: A US official says the investigation is examining who had access to the alleged Pentagon document. Any such leak automatically would trigger an FBI investigation alongside the Pentagon and US intelligence agencies. The FBI declined to comment.

The National Security Council referred CNN to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and Pentagon for comment.The Pentagon and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency declined to comment. CNN has reached out to the National Security Agency for comment.

It is not clear how the documents became public, or whether they were hacked or deliberately leaked.

CNN’s Evan Perez contributed to this report.

Israel released new video footage it says shows Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar underground in Hamas tunnels “just hours” before the October 7 attacks last year.

Talking over the images of what the IDF says are Sinwar and his children, Israeli military spokesperson Rear Adm. DanielHagari said the Hamas leader was hiding alone with his family all night in tunnels below Khan Younis in central Gaza.

The Israel Defense Forces released similar video in February that appeared to show Sinwar walking in a tunnel with his family just after the October 7 attacks.

Hamas accuses IDF of “blatant lies”: The militant group rejected Hagari’s commentsas “a desperate attempt to save face for their defeated army, which was humiliated by Commander Sinwar and his brothers.”

The group said Sinwar was killed while “engaging in the battlefield” after having spent the past year “moving across various combat fronts in the Gaza Strip, at the forefront of our brave people’s resistance.”

CNN’s Mia Alberti and Abeer Salman contributed reporting.

This post has been updated with Hamas’ response.

Displaced Palestinians queue to receive food rations at a refugee camp in Gaza on October 17.

With Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza in its second year, “people are continuing to go through so much,” according to Sam Rose, the senior deputy director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.

Rose, who is currently in central Gaza, described the harrowing conditions there.

Since Israel began its military operation into Rafah in May, Rose said, regular supplies have “dried up.”

He said people in Gaza are continually facing hunger and that sanitary conditions are worsening. Rose noted that there are trucks containing aid that have not been let into the strip.

“They’re in absolutely desperate conditions. This is completely man-made; the ability to fix it is through food trucks coming in,” he said.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin speaks during a press briefing in Washington, DC, on July 25.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters Saturday he is “seeing things being done to get more aid in” to civilians in Gaza.

When asked about a joint letter he wrote with Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging Israel to increase aid flows to Gaza within 30 days or risk losing US military aid, Austin said that he wouldn’t make “public comments” about it. But he said the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar allows for a “window of opportunity” to increase the amount of aid reaching civilians in Gaza.

“The primary objective is to get the hostages released and get a ceasefire,” he added.

More context: Last week, the World Food Programme warned that no food had entered northernGazasince the start of October, putting1 million peopleat risk of starvation.

On Wednesday, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said that several dozen aid trucks entered northern Gaza for the first time in several weeks, but stressed that is not enough.

“Many, many more deliveries are needed, and we will continue to push for that,” she said.

Israeli security forces gather behind a barrier across a street leading to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence in Caesarea, Israel, on October 19.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said those who tried to “assassinate me and my wife today made a bitter mistake” after a drone was launched toward his home in Caesarea in central Israel Saturday.

The Israeli military confirmed earlierthat thedrone had been launched from Lebanon, and the prime minister’s spokesperson said that the attack had targeted Netanyahu’s home. Neither he nor his wife were at home at the time and nobody else was injured, according to his office.

Netanyahu said the “agents of Iran” — meaning Hezbollah — were behind the attack and would “pay a heavy price.” Hezbollah has not claimed responsibility.

Smoke and flames rise in Beirut's southern suburbs in Lebanon after Israeli airstrikes, as seen from Sin el Fil, Lebanon, on October 6.

The United States would like Israel to “scale back on some of the strikes” in Beirut, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Saturday while in Italy for a G7 defense ministers meeting.

The defense secretary added that he will “continue to make” that point during his conversations with Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

In a statement, the Pentagon said Austin and Gallant reviewed US troop presence in Israel in light of the recent deployment there of a THAAD missile defense system during their Saturday discussion.

Austin also told Gallant he was “relieved” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was safe after a drone from Lebanon was launched toward the Israeli leader’s home this morning.

Austin’s comments come as the Israeli military said it had advancedthe furthest into southern Lebanonsince a ground incursion began at the end of September, while Lebanese state media is reporting that at leasttwo airstrikeshit the southern suburbs of Beirut on Saturday.

People and rescuers inspect the site of an Israeli strike in Baaloul, a town in the western Beqaa Valley in Lebanon, on October 19.

A local mayor is among four people killed by an Israeli airstrike in the town of Baaloul in the Beqaa valley of eastern Lebanon, according to the country’s National News Agency (NNA).

The Lebanese health ministry announced the death of four people following an “Israeli enemy raid on Baaloul in the Western Beqaa” on Saturday, without referencing the mayor specifically.

According to the report from NNA, the death toll following the “airstrike on a residential apartment” includes the mayor of the nearby town of Sohmor, Haidar Shahla.

Emergency services were working to identify body parts and remains found in the rubble, the health ministry said.

CNN has reached out to the Israeli military regarding the incident.

An image geolocated by CNN showed a large plume of smoke rising behind a mosque in Baaloul.

As Israeli operations in southern Lebanon are ongoing, troops have destroyed a combat complex used by Hezbollah in the area of a village school, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

In a statement Saturday, the IDF said, “In a school complex in southern Lebanon: the forces of the 7th Brigade combat team located weapons caches, shafts and warehouses with combat equipment.”

According to the IDF, troops have so far destroyed infrastructure, several tunnel shafts and over 20 weapons stockpiles that it says were used by Hezbollah, the IDF added.

The Israeli military said that in the school compound, several shafts and an accumulation of weapons were located and destroyed, including rocket-propelled grenade missiles, weapons and other combat equipment. It did not name the village.

Additional munitions warehouses that Hezbollah had left behind were destroyed, the IDF said.

Earlier Saturday, the Israeli military said it had advanced the furthest into southern Lebanon since a ground incursion began at the end of September.

The Israeli military says its soldiers have advanced the furthest into southern Lebanon since a ground incursion began at the end of last month.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Saturday that the 98th Division had raided a Hezbollah headquarters “in the deepest area IDF forces have operated so far in ground operations in Lebanon. The fighters are raiding terrorist infrastructures and destroying them, eliminating terrorists and locating many weapons.”

It added that troops had raided a Hezbollah headquarters and an observation post that oversaw the settlements of the Galilee Panhandle, a narrow strip of land on the Israel-Lebanon border,and had located and “destroyed munitions, weapons and other enemy intelligence means.”

Remember: Israel has been mounting what it describes as a limited ground offensive against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

The incursion, which Israel’s National Security Cabinet has called the “next phase” of its war with Hezbollah, marked the fourth timethat Israeli soldiers have publicly entered Lebanese soil in nearly 50 years.

CNN is unable to independently verify reports of fighting on the ground.

A further 20,000 people were forced to flee Jabalya camp in northern Gaza on Friday amid intense fighting, the United Nations said, with many seeking refuge in the organization’s shelters.

Although a dozen trucks of flour were allowed into Gaza City this week, the amount was far from sufficient to meet the escalating needs, according to Lazzarini. Only a few bakeries in the city have been able to step up bread production for distribution to those in UNRWA shelters.

The Biden administration sent a letter to the Israeli government this week, demanding it act to improve thehumanitarian situation in Gazawithin the next 30 days or riskviolatingUS laws governing foreign military assistance.

The situation has worsened due to widespread communication and internet disruptions across Gaza City and northern regions, along with critical shortages of fuel and medical supplies in the remaining operational hospitals, added Lazzarini. Fuel shortages have also affected access to water.

Paltel, Gaza’s primary internet service provider, confirmed a complete internet blackout in the northern Gaza Strip in a statement on Saturday, attributing it to the “ongoing military hostilities.”

Context: Jabalya has been subjected to sustained strikes throughout this month following the Israeli military’s order for mass evacuations from large parts of northern Gaza. Israeli airstrikes on Jabalya refugee camp killed at least 33 people on Friday night, including 21 women, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office.

Smoke billows over Beirut's southern suburbs in Lebanon after an Israeli strike, as seen from Hadath, Lebanon, on October 19.

Airstrikes hit southern Beirut on Saturday soon after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) issued an urgent warning for residents of two buildings to evacuate.

Lebanese state media confirmed that at least two airstrikes hit the southern suburbs of Beirut.

It is not clear if the strikes targeted the buildings identified in the earlier warning.

“For your safety and the safety of your family, you must evacuate these buildings and those nearby immediately and move at least 500 meters away from them,” an IDF spokesperson had warned on X prior to the strikes.

Soon after they were carried out, the Israel Defense Forces issued a second evacuation warning.

“You are located near Hezbollah facilities and interests, against which the IDF will operate in the near future,” said the IDF’s Arabic spokesman, specifying a building in the Choueifat Al-Umara neighborhood.

Israel’s operations in Lebanon:Yesterday, residents of 23 villages in southern Lebanon were issued an evacuation notice and urged to move north. On Tuesday, the Middle East director of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that around a fifth of Lebanon’s population has fled their homes, and about a quarter of the country is under Israeli military evacuation orders.

About a dozen people have been killed Saturday in three separate strikes and shelling in different parts of Gaza, Gaza’s Civil Defense and hospital authorities say.

The Civil Defense said that seven people had been killed in an Israeli airstrike on a school in Al Shati refugee camp, which is close to the coast in northern Gaza.

Al-Awda Hospital, central Gaza, said it had received four bodies and four injured people as a result of bombing west of the Nuseirat refugee camp.

Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal said that in a third attack, five people had been killed or wounded, including children, by Israeli shelling on a residential complex in the Jabalya Al-Balad area in northern Gaza.

Remember: The Israeli military has confirmed ongoing operations in several parts of Gaza, with the most intense appearing to be in the north.

CNN reported a week ago that the IDF had launched a wide-scale operation following intelligence that it said showed attempts by Hamas to “rebuild its operational capabilities in the area.”

An Israeli tank maneuvers near the Israel-Gaza border, as seen from Israel, on October 15.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that after the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, Israeli forces will “continue forward until the end.”

Netanyahu made brief remarks on camera to Israeli media Saturday. It’s not clear where he was speaking.

“We eliminated the master murderer Yahya Sinwar,” he said.

“I said we are in the war of resurrection and we continue forward until the end.”

Netanyahu said he was proud of Israel’s soldiers and all its citizens.

After being asked if anything would deter him, he replied: “No, nothing will deter us. We continue until victory.”

On Friday, White House national security communications adviser John Kirby suggested that Sinwar was the chief obstacle to securing a ceasefire in the Gaza conflict - and his killing had created an “inflection point” that could accelerate talks to wind down the war.

Remember: Israel succeeded Wednesday in its year-long mission to kill Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the man accused of being one of the masterminds of the October 7, 2023 attacks.

But while Sinwar’s death is a huge blow for Hamas, it does not signal the immediate demise of the group. Hamas has vowed to continue fighting, saying that the killing of leaders – including Sinwar –does not mean the end of the movement.

Dozens of people have been reported killed in Gaza, while a drone targeted the residence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the city of Caesarea, central Israel.

Both Israel and Hamas have vowed to carry on fighting, dashing US hopes that the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar could lead to a truce and hostage deal

Below are the latest developments:

Israeli security forces gather in front of a building in Kiryat Ata, Israel, that was damaged by a rocket fired from Lebanon on October 19.

One Israeli has been killed and others injured in a series of barrages from southern Lebanon Saturday, Israeli emergency services say.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said a total of 150 launches from southern Lebanon on Saturday had been detected.

One person was killed in Acre, northern Israel. Paramedics said the 50-year-old man was hit by shrapnel while sitting in his car.

Another person injured by shrapnel at the same location was evacuated in moderate condition to the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya.

Cross-border attacks have intensified in recent weeks but Israeli fatalities are rare.

A barrage aimed at the city of Haifa damaged a home in Kiryat Ata, according to emergency services.

Ten people in the area had been taken to hospital. Three people suffered shrapnel injuries, while others were suffering from shock.

Following damage to an open road in the Western Galilee, four people were referred to the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya, including a man who was in moderate condition with shrapnel injuries.

Relatives pray by the shrouded body of 10-year-old Sama al-Debs who was killed by Israel during an army operation in the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza, during her funeral on October 18.

Dozens of Palestinians have been reported killed in strikes on northern Gaza over the past 24 hours, amid what the Israeli military says are operations aimed at stopping Hamas regrouping.

A statement from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Saturday said that in the Jabalya area of northern Gaza, troops “eliminated several terrorists in close-quarters encounters.”

Remember: Jabalya has seen sustained strikes for much of this month after the Israeli military ordered the evacuation of large swathes of northern Gaza.

The Health Ministry in Gaza meanwhile said Saturday that Israeli forces were intensifying the “targeting of the health system in the northern Gaza Strip, by besieging and directly targeting the Indonesian Hospital, Kamal Adwan Hospital, and Al-Awda Hospital during the past hours.”

Munir Al-Barash, Director of the Gaza Health Ministry, said he had learned that two people in the intensive care unit at the Indonesian Hospital had passed away due to the power outage there.

The Hamas-run Government Media Office in Gaza reported late Friday that 33 people had been killed, including 21 women, in one strike in the north of the Strip. Gaza Civil Defense reported casualties in a several other strikes.

Communications with the northern Gaza Strip are very difficult, but CNN reached one Palestinian, Ismail Zaida, early Saturday. He said there had been “violent air strikes in the Saftawi area” of Jabalya. “We hear ambulances arriving and now, huge explosions.”

Civilians flee: The IDF has issued a series of evacuation orders for northern Gaza this month with CNN video on Friday showing civilians leaving parts of Jabalya and heading towards Gaza City.

CNN reported a week ago that the IDF had launched a wide-scale operation following intelligence that it said showed attempts by Hamas to “rebuild its operational capabilities in the area.”

This still from video provided by the Israel Defense Forces shows the moment of firing on the building where Sinwar was located.

For more than a year since Hamasattacked Israel last October 7,Israeli forces —with some quiet help from the United States —had been hunting the mastermind behind that day: Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

More than once, they had been close, pushing the Hamas chief from one underground hiding place to the next. But Sinwar had moved like a ghost in the endless warren of tunnels dug beneath the streets of Gaza, rarely coming above ground and communicating only through courier to avoid detection by electronic surveillance.

In the end, it was only by pure accident that a group ofIsraeli soldiers stumbledon Israel’s most wanted man.

Infantry soldiers from the IDF’s Bislach Brigade, a unit that normally trains future commanders, had been tracking several men among the ruins in southern Gaza, pulverized by Israel’s punishing bombing campaign. Gunfire broke out. The Israelis fired back from a tank and sent a drone swooping into one of the hollowed-out buildings.

It was only after the exchange of fire had ended and troops returned the following morning to inspect the rubble that they realized one of the bodies was Sinwar.

Read the full story here.

The Israeli military has been dropping leaflets in the Khan Younis area of southern Gaza promising free passage to anyone who lays down their arms and helps return the hostages still held.

The leaflets show a photograph of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar dead, surrounded by rubble, and include the message: “Sinwar destroyed your lives. He hid in a dark hole and was eliminated while fleeing in panic.”

The message continues: “Hamas will not govern Gaza anymore. Finally, the opportunity has come for you to be liberated from its tyranny.”

“Whoever lays down their weapon and returns the abductees to us, we will allow them to leave and live in peace.”

The pledge was first made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday.

There are 101 hostages still held in Gaza, Israeli authorities say, but as many as one-third of them are thought to be dead.

Palestinians conduct a search and rescue operation after Israeli forces attack on a building in the Maghazi refugee camp in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, on October 19.

An airstrike on two houses in the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza Saturday has killed 11 members of the same family, according to hospital authorities and a family member.

Abu Ibrahim Shanaya, a cousin and neighbor of some of those killed, told CNN that eleven people were killed and several others injured.

Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital reported receiving 11 bodies, including those of three children and four women.

The IDF has not commented specifically on any strike in Maghazi, but said that “in the central Gaza Strip, troops directed IAF strikes and dismantled terrorist structures used by Hamas to execute sniper fire and plant explosives.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a commemoration ceremony for soldiers killed during the 2014 Gaza war, also known as Operation Protective Edge, at the Memorial Hall on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem on July 16.

A drone has been launched towards Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in Caesarea, central Israel, his office said in a statement.

The prime minister’s spokeswoman confirmed the attack, saying Netanyahu and his wife were not home at the time of the strike.

There were no casualties in the attack, the spokesman added.

In an earlier statement, Israel‘s military said a drone launched from Lebanon “hit a structure in the area of Caesarea.”

The Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza came under Israeli fire Saturday, the enclave’s Ministry of Health said.

At least five shells hit the facility, according to the hospital’s director.

Artillery targeted the hospital’s upper floors as “more than 40 patients and wounded individuals, along with the medical staff” remained inside the hospital, the health ministry said in a statement.

A group of displaced people in front of the hospital’s gate were targeted, the ministry added.

The hospital has experienced a complete power outage, according to the ministry.

In a voice note sent to CNN, the hospital’s director Dr. Marwan Sultan said at least five shells had hit the hospital building, with smoke filling the hospital and posing a serious threat to patients and medical staff.

Sultan said some patients are in critical need of care and oxygen.

CNN contacted Israel’s military for comment.

Last week, the Israeli military ordered the evacuation of the Indonesian Hospital along with two other hospitals in northern Gaza – Kamal Adwan and Al-Awda – according to Doctors Without Borders and the health ministry.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, on September 25.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei expressed sorrow over the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in a statement shared on his official X account Saturday.

Khamenei called Sinwar’s death a “painful” loss for the “Resistance Front” – referring to a network of Iran-backed regional proxies including Hamas – but vowed that the movement would continue.

The front “didn’t halt its progress in wake of the martyrdoms of eminent figures,” he said, citing previous Hamas leaders killed by Israel over the years. “Similarly, it won’t falter with Sinwar’s martyrdom either.”

In his statement, addressed to Muslim nations and the “courageous youth of the region,” Khamenei praised Sinwar for dedicating his life to the struggle against Israel and said “anything less than martyrdom would have been an unworthy fate” for the Hamas leader.

Sinwar, believed by Israel to have been chief architect of the militant group’s deadly October 7 attack that set off the war in Gaza, was killed by Israeli forces during a routine ground patrol in Rafah on Wednesday, Israeli officials said. Hamas has confirmed his death.

Israeli airstrikes on northern Gaza’s Jabalya refugee camp killed at least 33 people on Friday night, including 21 women, according to the enclave’s Government Media Office.

The death toll is expected to rise as many victims remain trapped under the rubble, the Hamas-run GMO said in a statement.

More than 85 people were injured, some critically, the GMO added, while accusing the Israeli military of bombing people’s homes.

CNN has contacted Israel’s military for comment.

The war in Gaza has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians in the enclave, according to local officials, and left tens of thousands of others fighting disease, severe hunger and constant displacement.

A Palestinian boy looks at destroyed shelters at the site of an Israeli airstrike which hit tents for displaced people two days earlier in the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on October 16.

Abu Mohammed stands with red, bleary eyes. Women and young men walk on a muddied pathway as children run between rows of improvised tents in Deir al-Balah displacement camp, central Gaza.

Mohammed and others staying in makeshift displacement camps have survived Israeli bombardments that have laid waste to Gaza’s streets for over a year, enduring catastrophic violence, constant killings and disfigurement, and crippling hunger.

As Israel celebrated its killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar this week – with its allies hoping Sinwar’s death will now open a possibility for peace in Gaza – Mohammed and many others remain skeptical it will change their daily reality.

“I do not believe that the war will end with his killing,” Mohammed told CNN, adding that he was “saddened” to hear the news of the death of Sinwar.

Israel’s most wanted man, believed to be one of the architects of the group’s October 7, 2023 attack, was killed by the Israeli military in Rafah, southern Gaza, on Wednesday.

Many Gazans today are afraid to publicly voice support for Sinwar and Hamas for fear of being targeted by the Israeli military — which launched its siege of Gaza with the stated aim of destroying Hamas after it led the October 7 terror attacks, and to save the hostages taken that day. Others fear condemning Hamas, which controls the Palestinian enclave.

But Samah, 36, told CNN that she saw Sinwar’s acts as crimes, for which Gaza had borne the human cost.

“Sinwar was a target for Israel and he was targeted and killed. He attacked Israel, and committed crimes that we have paid the price for … We paid with horrific tragedies, with the blood of our children, our money, and our homes.”

Read more on how Gazans are reacting to Sinwar’s death.

Yahya Sinwar chairs a meeting with leaders of Palestinian factions at his office in Gaza City, on April 13, 2022.

Hamas confirmed the death of its leader, Yahya Sinwar, in avideo statementby senior official Khalil Al Hayya, who has served as chief negotiator for the militant group in talks for a potential Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal.

In a televised address, Al Hayya saidHamas will not release Israeli hostagesuntil “aggression on our people in Gaza stops,” Israel completely withdraws from the enclaveand Palestinian prisoners in Israel are released.

Here’s what else to know:

More details emerge:The chief pathologist who autopsied Sinwar’s body told CNN that theHamas leader was killed by a gunshot wound to the head. The Israel Defense Forces previously had not said anything about its troops firing a fatal gunshot. Asked for comment, an IDF spokesperson told CNN that there was an exchange of gunfire and that the combat ended with Israel firing a tank shell at the building. The IDF is still working to learn all of the details, the spokesperson added. The pathologist further told CNN that when Israeli forces found a body resembling Sinwar’s on Wednesday,his finger was cut off and sent for DNA testingin order to identify him.

US response so far:US PresidentJoeBiden said that ending the conflict in the Middle Eastwill still be difficultafter Sinwar’s death. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said theUS could “quite possibly” play a rolein stabilization efforts in Gaza after the war with Israel ends, adding it would need to be defined alongside allies in the region.

Blockade of medical organizations:The World Health Organization hasaccused Israel of blockingmultiple medical organizations from entering Gaza — marking the first time entire health agencies have been denied access to the enclave during the over yearlong war. Specialists denied entry were supposed to support “already overburdened” staff in performing medical treatments, including surgeries, at strained facilities such as the Nasser Medical Complex and the European Hospitalin southern Gaza and Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza, WHO said. COGAT, the Israeli agency that coordinates the inspection and delivery of humanitarian assistance into Gaza,has denied the accusations.

Gaza’s strained health care system:Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of the few functioning hospitals in northern Gaza, is overwhelmed by the amount of incoming patients, with staff fatigued and running out of medical supplies and food, the director said. “This is a catastrophic situation in every sense of the meaning,” Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya told CNN in a video message. “From yesterday until this moment, no one has slept.” In addition, the hospital is grappling with the number of babies born prematurely due to the stress on pregnant women amid heavy bombing in northern Gaza, he added.

Israel continues operations in Lebanon:Israel issued an evacuation noticeto residents of 23 villages in southern Lebanon, urging them to move north. Some of the villages mentioned in the notice on Friday had been named in previous warnings. On Tuesday, the Middle East director of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that around a fifth of Lebanon’s population has fled their homes, and about a quarter of the country is under Israeli military evacuation orders.Israel also called up “an additional reserve brigadefor operational missions” in northern Israel against Hezbollah, the IDF said.

The Israeli military said it identified about 20 projectiles “crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory” overnight into Saturday, with no damage or injuries reported.

“Some of the projectiles were intercepted and the rest fell in open areas,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement, adding that the projectiles targeted the Upper Galilee area.

A drone was identified a few hours later in the northern Golan Heights, Israel’s military said. The unmanned aerial vehicle crossed into Israel from Syria, causing no damage, according to the military.

Mohammad al-Dalou whimpered as he mourned the death of another son — the second of his children to die this week — in the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital on Friday.

CNN footage from the medical facility in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza showed dozens of men comforting the Palestinian father over the loss of Abdul Rahman. The 11-year-old boy died early Thursday, just days after he was severely wounded ina fire set off by an Israeli airstrikethat hit improvised tents in the hospital complex on Monday.

Al-Dalou’s right arm and head are scarred with burns from that blaze, CNN footage shows. As CNN previously reported, al-Dalou managed to rescue three of his children, including Abdul Rahman — but could not save his other son, Shaaban, 19, or his wife, Alaa, 37, who died in the flames that night.

Shaaban, a university student who would have turned 20 on Wednesday, memorized the Quran and dreamed of leaving Gaza, according to al-Dalou.

“I wish the fire had consumed me and not my children. Oh, my heart, my children. My whole life is gone. My whole life is gone,” said al-Dalou.

The Israel Defense Forces said the strike in Deir al-Balah was targeting a Hamas command center it claimed was embedded within the hospital complex.

Yahya Sinwar hosts a meeting at Hamas President's office in Gaza City on April 13, 2022.

The body of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar could be used as a “bargaining chip” in exchange for the release of Israeli hostages being held in Gaza, Israeli sources tell CNN.

Sinwar’s remains are currently being held in a secret location in Israel, according to local media reports, after he was killed on Wednesday by Israeli forces in southern Gaza.

Two sources told CNN that securing hostage releases would likely be Israel’s priority in deciding how to leverage the remains of the man accused by Israel of masterminding the October 7 terror attacks last year.

More than 100 hostages taken during the Hamas-led attacks remain in captivity in Gaza. Israeli authorities are currently weighing how to “create pressure quickly” on Hamas to let them go, one Israeli source said.

Both sources agreed Sinwar could be seen as a “bargaining chip.”

A swap for hostages is likely the only way that Sinwar’s remains return to Gaza,said theIsraeli source. “Otherwise handing him over is not going to happen,” the source said.

According to the diplomatic source, returning Sinwar’s remains to Gaza in any circumstance risks rallying Hamas supporters. If Sinwar were buried in Gaza, the site could become a shrine for followers, the source also predicted.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog held a security meeting on Friday about the “significant window of opportunity” that Sinwar’s killing presents for the return of hostages, Herzog’s office said in a statement.

In remarks Thursday, Netanyahualso called on Hamas members still holding Israeli hostages to lay down their weapons and return the captives, saying whoever does so will be allowed to “go out and live.”

Israel succeeded Wednesday in its year-long mission to kill Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the man accused of being one of the masterminds of the October 7, 2023, attacks.

While Sinwar’s death is a huge blow for Hamas, it does not signal the immediate demise of the group. Hamas has vowed to continue fighting, saying that the killing of leaders — including Sinwar —does not mean the end of its movement.

As rumors swirl about Sinwar’s successor, here’swhat we know about what’s next for Hamas:

It is unclear whether Sinwar himself left any instructions on who should replace him, but his younger brotherMohammed Sinwaris seen by many as his heir apparent. Like his brother, Mohammed is a hardline militant. He recently became Hamas’ military commander.

Mohammed Sinwar’s fate is currently unknown. Israeli media reported Friday that an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson said that they are “actively searching” for him. A senior Israeli official previously told CNN the two brothers spent much of the past year side by side and were together as recently as August.

Mousa Abu Marzouk, the deputy chief of Hamas’ political bureau who helped found Hamas, could also be a contender to become Sinwar’s replacement. He spent five years living in the United States before the FBI designated him as a terrorist. He was eventually deported.

Khaled Meshaal, the group’s former political chief, is also seen as a powerful contender for the role. Meshaal is well known internationally, having met with top officials including former United States President Jimmy Carter, Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the past.

However, he might face difficulty over his past support for a Sunni uprising against Syrian President Bashar al Assad as Hamas, itself a Sunni group, is supported by Shia-majority Iran.

Sinwar’s deputyKhalil Al Hayyais seen as another possible successor. He acted as the chief negotiator for Hamas during recent ceasefire talks in Cairo and is based in Qatar.

The chief pathologist who autopsied the body of Yahya Sinwar told CNN that the Hamas leader was killed by a gunshot wound to the head.

Dr. Chen Kugel, the chief pathologist at Israel’s National Center of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv, said that while Sinwar suffered other serious injuries — including from a tank shell or missile — he was confident a bullet to the head was what had killed the Hamas leader.

The Israeli military previously said that Sinwar was killed after a tank fired a shell into the building in which he had already been wounded and had not said anything about its troops firing a fatal gunshot.

Asked for comment about Kugel’s findings, an IDF spokesperson told CNN that there was an exchange of gunfire and that the combat ended with the Israeli military firing a tank shell at the building. The Israeli military is still working to learn all of the details of the event, the spokesperson said.

Kugel said he is confident in his analysis, which was based on examining Sinwar’s body. He only learned of the Israeli military’s account of Sinwar’s death after conducting the autopsy.

When asked about Sinwar’s approximate time of death, Kugel told CNN that it was likely late afternoon on Wednesday — more than 24 hours before his body arrived at the institute late Thursday night, he said.