According to a supporter of the Foreign Policy Institute, the death of Yahia Sinwar is a significant setback for Hamas, but the organization has not yet been defeated.
Risto Mattila,
Veikko Eromäki
The Israeli army published a video on its official Telegram channel, which allegedly features the leader of the extremist organization Hamas that controlled the Gaza Strip Yahia Sinwar moments before his death.
Israeli officials confirmed on Thursday that Sinwar had died. A representative of Hamas also confirmed the information, the news channel CNN says.
The video shows how the drone dives into a badly destroyed residential building through a hole in the wall, possibly caused by a bombardment. In one room, a man sits in an armchair with a scarf wrapped around his head. He has an object in his hand, possibly a wooden stick.
A person notices the drone and throws an object at it.
The Israeli military says its soldiers spotted several Hamas fighters entering a building in the Gaza Strip on Thursday. After this, it was decided to destroy the building. Sinwari’s body was later found in the rubble of the collapsed building.
According to the news channel CNN, in addition to other biometric data, Sinwar could be quickly identified based on dental images. Israel has Sinwari’s biometric data because he has been in prison for murders he committed in Israel.
A long wanted terrorist
Israel has been searching for Yahya Sinwari, who was hiding in Gaza, during its year-long ground offensive. According to Israel, Sinwar was one of the planners of the terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas in October last year.
Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu commenting on the news of Sinwar’s death “the beginning of the end of the war.” At the same time, he reminded that the war in Gaza will end as soon as Hamas lays down its weapons and releases the rest of the hostages it took on October 9 last year.
Supporter of the Foreign Policy Institute by Timo R. Stewart according to Sinwar’s death is a significant setback for Hamas, but the organization has not yet been defeated.
– No organization is just its leader, especially not such a large and established organization like Hamas. Netanyahu seems to be leaning towards the position that killing Sinwar was a significant step, but it does not end the war.
According to Stewart, for Israel, the war is not only about destroying Hamas, but also about freeing the hostages.
The goals are in conflict with each other, because the hostages can only be released alive by negotiating with Hamas, Stewart estimates.
Director of the Finnish Middle East Institute who visited Ylen Ykkösaamu Susanne Dahlgren is on the same lines as Stewart.
– Israel will continue the war in Gaza as long as there is any armed resistance from Hamas. It’s not the end yet, unfortunately, Dahlgren said.
According to Stewart, Hamas will also continue the guerilla war around the Gaza Strip.
The experts interviewed by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz are cautiously hopeful that Hamas might now be willing to release the hostages.
Who was Yahya Sinwar?
Yahya Sinwar was nicknamed “the butcher of Khan Younis”. He was sentenced in Israel in the 1980s to four life terms for four murders.
However, the imprisonment ended already in 2011, when Israel exchanged more than a thousand Palestinian prisoners for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier kidnapped by Hamas.
Sinwar became the leader of Hamas in Gaza in 2017. After Israel killed the leader of Hamas last July to Ismail Haniyeh In Tehran, Sinwar emerged as the leader of the entire extremist organization.
A spokesperson for the US State Department has called Sinwar the “main brake” on peace in Gaza.
Sinwar’s killing has raised fury in the extremist organization Hizbullah, which operates in Lebanon. According to Iran’s UN ambassador, the incident only “raises the spirit of resistance.”
There is no information about Sinwar’s possible successor.