Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, one of the masterminds of the October 7 massacre in Israel, has been killed, according to the Israeli military.

“This is the beginning of the day after Hamas,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, while calling on those holding Israelis captive in Gaza to lay down their weapons and return the hostages, pledging whoever does so will be allowed to “go out and live.”

Sinwar’s body was spotted in the rubble of a building struck by an Israeli tank in Gaza, according to a radio station run by Israel’s military. The Israel Defense Forces confirmed Sinwar was “eliminated” after Israeli officials ran DNA tests and used dental records to confirm his identity.

Sinwar, who topped Israel’s most-wanted list, was a key figure believed to have been behind the 7 October attacks.

Separately, local authorities say an Israeli air strike on a school-turned-shelter killed 22 people in Jabalia in northern Gaza.

Reactingh to the news, US President Joe Biden praised the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar by Israel adding he will speak “soon” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“This is a good day for Israel, for the United States and for the world,” Biden said in a written statement.

“I will be speaking soon with Prime Minister Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders to congratulate them, to discuss the pathway for bringing the hostages home to their families, and for ending this war once and for all, which has caused so much devastation to innocent people,” he continued.