Officials hoping the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind behind the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, would lead to a ceasefire in Gaza are finding the commander’s death has not brought much clarity about what comes next.
President Joe Biden on Friday called Sinwar’s death a “moment of justice” and a chance at “a better future in Gaza without Hamas,” The New York Times reported. Some Israelis also view the killing as a chance to negotiate a ceasefire and bring the remaining hostages home, according to The Washington Post.
“While this is not the end of the war in Gaza, it’s the beginning of the end,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement posted to X. “This war can end tomorrow if Hamas lays down its arms and returns our hostages.”
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But during a televised eulogy for the fallen commander, Hamas’ deputy leader said the group’s conditions hadn’t changed for agreeing to a ceasefire and returning the hostages. Israel must end its war against Hamas, withdraw from Gaza, and release its Palestinian prisoners, Khalil al-Hayya said.
Withdrawal seems unlikely—especially since some members of Netanyahu’s cabinet want to push the country’s newfound advantage against Hamas to also wipe out Hezbollah, The Washington Post said.
The Hamas-led attack in Israel a year ago, killed 1,200 people, including 43 Americans, and 251 people were taken hostage. Of those, 101 are still being held, with many feared dead, Netanyahu said in his statement about Sinwar. Israel responded by invading Gaza, killing more than 42,000 Palestinians to date—most of them civilians, Axios reported.
On Wednesday, soldiers with the Israel Defense Forces were training near Rafah in southern Gaza and came across three militants and opened fire, according to the Jerusalem Post. One of the militants ran into a bombed-out apartment building, which the Israeli soldiers surveyed with a drone. The drone captured a militant coated in dust sitting in a chair in an upstairs apartment, his face and head covered with a cloth.
The soldiers shelled what remained of the building, and when they pulled the militant’s body from the rubble, they discovered it was Sinwar. Graphic photos of his bloodied body quickly circulated on social media, and the Israel Defense Forces released drone footage of his final moments on X.
Both sides quickly seized on the images to push competing narratives.
IDF commanders praised their soldiers for their “persistence, patience, analysis of the terrain, and vigilance,” while the Iran Mission to the United Nations called Sinwar a “martyr” and said the video of him “standing on the battlefield… facing the enemy” would strengthen Palestinians’ “spirit of resistance.”
In Gaza, however, Palestinians privately expressed bitterness and anger toward the fallen Hamas leader, CNN’s Clarissa Ward reported. “He committed crimes that we have paid the price for,” one unnamed woman told the network. Most people in Gaza are not optimistic about a ceasefire and are just trying to survive, Ward added.
