Hostages will not return until Gaza 'aggression' stops, Hamas official says

Israeli hostages in Gaza will not return until "the aggression" on the besieged Palestinian enclave stops and Israeli forces withdraw, Khalil Al-Hayya, deputy Gaza Hamas chief and the group's chief negotiator, said on Friday.

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed by the IDF, Hamas official Basem Naim confirmed on Friday, Israeli media reported. 

Naim serves as the terror organization's political bureau head.

Upon confirming Sinwar's death, Naim said, "Hamas becomes stronger and more popular with each elimination of its leaders. It hurts to lose people, especially unique leaders like Yahya Sinwar, but we are sure we will win in the end."

Naim also placed doubt on Israel's ability to dismantle the organization by killing off leadership.

"Israel seems to believe that killing our leaders means the end of our movement and the struggle of the Palestinian people. They can believe what they want, and this is not the first time they have said that," he added.

Sinwar's assassination confirmed by IDF before Hamas

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed by the IDF in Tel Sultan in Rafah on Wednesday in an unplanned operation, sources close to the matter confirmed to The Jerusalem Post Thursday evening, several hours after rumors arose that he had been killed earlier Thursday.

Shortly after, around 7:45 p.m., the IDF, Shin Bet, Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz, and others confirmed that Sinwar was dead.

Evidence that Sinwar is dead included matching both his dental records and fingerprint records which Israel had from the period when he was in Israeli prisons until 2011.  

So far all indications were that no hostages were killed during the unplanned operation.

Yonah Jeremy Bob, Reuters, Jacob Laznik, and Maya Gur Arieh contributed to this report.