![Yahya Sinwar (L), leader of the Islamist Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, and the movement's political bureau head Ismail Haniyeh attends a meeting with the Palestinian factions in Gaza City on March 22, 2018. [Photo by Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/GettyImages-936595652.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
Al-Azhar Al-Sharif on Friday mourned those it described as “the martyrs of the heroic Palestinian resistance” in a statement on X, hours after the Israeli army claimed on Thursday evening that it assassinated Head of Hamas political bureau Yahya Sinwar.
The statement continued: “Al-Azhar Al-Sharif mourns the martyrs of the heroic Palestinian resistance, who were targeted by a criminal Zionist hand. The Zionist hand has wreaked havoc and corruption on our Arab land, killing, destroying, occupying, seizing and annihilating before the eyes and ears of countries paralysed by their will, ability and thinking. An international community as silent as the dead in their graves, and an international law whose value is not worth the ink with which it was written.”
Al-Azhar added: “The martyrs of the Palestinian resistance were true resistance fighters who terrified their enemy and put fear and terror in their hearts. They were not terrorists, as the enemy tries to falsely and deceitfully portray them. Rather, they were steadfast resistance fighters committed to the soil of their homeland until God granted them martyrdom while they thwarted the enemy’s plots and aggression. They defended their land, their cause and our cause, the cause of the Arabs and Muslims in the East and West.”
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“As we mourn the martyrs of the Palestinian resistance, Al-Azhar stresses the importance of exposing the lies and deception of the Zionist media machine and its attempt to distort the image of the symbols of the Palestinian resistance in the minds of our youth and children, and to spread their description as terrorists. Resistance, defending one’s country, land and cause, and dying for it is an honour that is unmatched.”
On Thursday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that Sinwar had been assassinated, warning: “The war is not over yet.”
Israel believes Sinwar was the architect of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood carried out by Palestinian factions in Gaza, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, against Israeli settlements and military bases surrounding the Strip on 7 October, 2023. This operation caused significant human and military losses for Tel Aviv and negatively impacted the reputation of the Israeli security and intelligence services at the international level.
On 6 August, Hamas announced that it had chosen Sinwar, known as “Abu Ibrahim”, as head of its political bureau, succeeding Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in the Iranian capital, Tehran, on 31 July, in an attack attributed to Tel Aviv, despite it not claiming responsibility.
READ: Israel and its foes vow more war after Hamas leader’s death