Hamas announced on Tuesday, August 6, that its leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, one of Israel’s most wanted men, had been designated political leader of the movement, after the assassination of his predecessor Ismail Haniyeh, which revived fears of a military escalation in the Middle East.
Iran, Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah have accused Israel of Ismail Haniyeh assassinatedthe political leader of the Palestinian Islamist movement, on July 31 in Tehran, and promised to avenge him. On Tuesday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah promised a response against Israel, ” whatever the consequences “, after this assassination and that of the military leader of the Lebanese Islamist movement, Fouad Chokr, killed on July 30 in an Israeli strike near Beirut.
Hezbollah and Iran are “ forced to retaliate “, Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech broadcast live. Hezbollah will retaliate” alone or as part of a unified response ” of Iran and its allies in the region, he said. Earlier, the low-altitude overflight of Beirut by Israeli military aircraft, which broke the sound barrier, sowed panic in the Lebanese capital.
It was in this tense climate that Hamas appointed Yahya Sinwar as the head of the movement on Tuesday. A Hamas official said that his appointment sent a ” strong message ” to Israel, ten months after the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, triggered by the unprecedented attack carried out by the Palestinian movement on Israeli soil October 7th.
Israel says new Hamas leader must be ‘quickly eliminated’
The Israeli army and authorities accuse Yahya Sinouar of being one of the masterminds of the October 7 attack. Minutes after his appointment was announced, a salvo of rockets was fired from the Gaza Strip toward Israel, claimed by the armed wing of Hamas.
” The appointment of arch-terrorist Yahya Sinwar as head of Hamas, replacing Ismail Haniyeh, is yet another reason to eliminate him quickly and wipe this despicable organization off the map. ” reacted Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz on X.
Tensions across the region have risen following the assassinations of Ismail Haniyeh and Fuad Shokr, raising fears of a military escalation between Israel on the one hand and Iran and allied groups in Lebanon, Yemen, Syria and Iraq on the other. Israel has not commented on Haniyeh’s death but had vowed after the October 7 attack to destroy Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007 and which it considers a terrorist organization, along with the United States and the European Union.
The Israeli army, however, claimed responsibility for the strike that killed Fouad Chokr, who Israel says was responsible for a attack that killed twelve children and teenagers on July 27 in the Syrian Golan Heights annexed by Israel. Hezbollah had denied any involvement.
An imminent risk of conflagration
Israel has been on high alert for nearly a week, awaiting the promised response from Iran and its allies. However, according to a European diplomat based in Tel Aviv, the absence of a change in the military’s instructions to civilians means, in theory, that an attack is not so imminent.
Faced with the risk of a conflagration, the international community has entered into a race against time. The United States is working ” day and night ” to avoid an escalation, said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday. Diplomatic contacts were further increased on Tuesday, ahead of a meeting scheduled for Wednesday of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
US President Joe Biden spoke by telephone with the Emir of Qatar, the main mediator in the Gaza war, on ” efforts for de-escalation (…) including through an immediate ceasefire and an agreement on the release of the hostages “, according to the White House. Joe Biden also had a telephone conversation with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. There is a possibility of war between us and Israel (…) We cannot deny it “, declared the head of Lebanese diplomacy, Abdallah Bou Habib, who was in Cairo on Tuesday.
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The constant exchanges on the Lebanese-Israeli border
Since the beginning of the war in Gaza, Hezbollah has been exchanging fire almost daily with the Israeli army along the border separating southern Lebanon from northern Israel. In this context, several countries have called on their nationals to leave Lebanonand airlines have suspended flights to Beirut.
On Tuesday, six Hezbollah fighters were killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Islamist movement, which announced that it had targeted several Israeli positions. Regional authorities in northern Israel on Tuesday called on the population to stay close to shelters after Hezbollah rocket fire.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army continues its bombardments on the besieged Gaza Strip. An Israeli drone strike killed one person, according to rescuers in Deir el-Balah, in the center of the Palestinian territory.
The Israeli military announced Tuesday that the last person missing after the October 7 attack had died. The attack left 1,198 people dead, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli data. Of the 251 people kidnapped, 111 are still being held in Gaza, including 39 who died, according to the military.
In response to the October 7 offensive, Israel launched an offensive that has so far killed 39,653 people, according to data from the Hamas-run Gaza government’s health ministry, which does not detail the number of civilian and combatant deaths.
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