Gaza - The Israeli army said Thursday it was "checking" whether Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar was killed during a military operation in Gaza, in what would be the latest in a string of militant leaders' deaths.

A brief military statement did not provide details of the specific operation or when it was conducted, but said Sinwar may have been one of three slain Palestinian militants.

During "operations in the Gaza Strip, three terrorists were eliminated", and Israeli defense agencies "are checking the possibility that one of the terrorists was Yahya Sinwar. At this stage, the identity of the terrorists cannot be confirmed," it said.

"In the building where the terrorists were eliminated, there were no signs of the presence of hostages in the area," the military added.

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An Israeli security official told AFP that the military was conducting a DNA test on a militant's body to confirm whether it was Sinwar.

"The Israeli military is conducting DNA tests on a body of a militant to confirm whether it is Sinwar," the official said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to media on the issue.

Later Thursday, the Israeli police and military said one of several tests being conducted to identify Sinwar had been completed while other examinations were ongoing.

"One of the multiple necessary assessments has been completed for absolute confirmation. Dental images have been submitted to the police forensics lab, and DNA testing is currently in progress. Upon completion of these processes, we will be able to confirm the assassination," the joint statement said.

Israel accuses Sinwar (61) of being the mastermind of the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the ongoing war, along with Hamas's military chief Mohammed Deif.

The Israeli military has said Deif was killed in a strike earlier this year, though the Palestinian group has not confirmed it.

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Sinwar in August replaced Hamas's former chief, Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in an Israeli strike on Iran on July 31.

The Hamas attack last year resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people on Israeli soil, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures that include hostages killed in captivity.

Israel's retaliatory military offensive in Gaza has killed 42,438 people, a majority of them civilians, according to the territory's health ministry. The UN acknowledges the figures to be reliable, but experts have warned the true death toll could be far greater.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz announced later Thursday that Sinwar had been killed in the operation.

"The mass murderer Yahya Sinwar, responsible for the massacre and atrocities of October 7th, was eliminated today by IDF [Israeli military] soldiers," Katz said in a statement sent to media.

Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the US House of Representatives applauded the killing of Sinwar, saying his death had brought "relief" to the people of Israel.

"Sinwar's life was the embodiment of evil and marked by hatred for all that is good in the world," Johnson said in a statement. "His death brings hope for all those who seek to live in freedom, and relief to Israelis he has sought to oppress."