Will the Gaza war end with the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar? Western politicians hope exactly that and are calling for the hostages to be released. But Hamas is fighting back.
The Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas has confirmed the death of its leader Yahya Sinwar. According to the military, Israeli soldiers killed the mastermind of the massacre on October 7, 2023 in the Gaza Strip.
The deputy head of the Islamist organization’s political bureau, Chalil al-Haja, said in a statement on the Hamas-affiliated Al Aksa TV channel that he mourned the death of the “martyr” Sinwar. Haja is also Hamas’s main negotiator outside the Gaza Strip.
Sinwar was considered the mastermind of the bloody attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, in which Islamist terrorists killed more than 1,200 people and kidnapped another 250 to the Gaza Strip. Immediately after the massacre, Israel’s army and secret services began the hunt for the chief planner. Sinwar is said to have hidden for a long time in the extensive tunnel system under the Gaza Strip – supposedly always surrounded by hostages as a human shield.
Yahya Sinwar killed in bomb attack
According to the Israeli army, Sinwar was killed on Wednesday in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. After he and two other gunmen were discovered by chance, Sinwar hid in a house and an Israeli tank fired a grenade into the building, The Times of Israel newspaper reported.
The military released footage from a drone showing a hooded and dust-covered man – supposedly Sinwar – still alive, sitting on an armchair in a bombed-out building. As the drone approaches, he throws a stick at the remote-controlled aircraft. At this point the video stops. Israeli media later published photos of what was believed to be Sinwar’s body lying among the rubble with severe head injuries.
Hamas wants to release hostages only after the end of the war
After Sinwar’s death, leading Western politicians expressed hope for an early ceasefire in the Gaza war. US President Joe Biden said during his visit to Berlin on Friday that Sinwar’s death was “an opportunity to take the path to peace.” Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) spoke of a “concrete prospect” of a ceasefire. However, a Hamas official warned that his organization “cannot be eliminated.”
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin also called for the hostages to be released immediately. Freeing the hostages is now the “top priority,” he said at a press conference after a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels. The radical Islamic Palestinian organization reacted with rejection. The kidnapped hostages would only return when the “aggression” against the Gaza Strip has ended. The Israeli troops must first withdraw from there, explains Politburo member al-Haja.
Talks brokered by the US, Egypt and Qatar on a ceasefire and the release of the hostages have stalled.
Sinwar had been Hamas chief in the Gaza Strip since 2017. After Israel’s targeted killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniya in July of this year, he took over the entire leadership of the organization. There was speculation as to whether his brother Mohammed would follow in his footsteps.
Source: Stern
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