The Israeli government has said that former spy chief Zvi Zamir, who headed Mossad during the 1973 Arab-Israel war, has died at the age of 98, AFP reports.

Zamir, who led the agency between 1968 and 1974, pioneered a strategy that endures to this day: deploying secret operatives abroad to assassinate Israel’s enemies.

“His tenure as director of the Mossad was characterised by extensive action while dealing with significant challenges,” a government statement said.

That includes “the fight against Palestinian terrorism” as well as the “military threat to the State of Israel, which peaked with the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War”, it said, referring to the 1973 Arab-Israel conflict.

Zamir died on Monday night, the government said, without specifying the cause of death.