Hamas leader Yahya Sinouar was killed by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip. If Benjamin Netanyahu sees this as the “beginning of the end” of the war, Hezbollah intends to “shift into higher gear”.
The essentials
- Israel announced Thursday, October 17, that it had eliminated Hamas leader Yahya Sinouar during an Israeli army operation targeting a building in the Gaza Strip. “Mass murderer Yahya Sinouar, responsible for the massacre and atrocities of October 7, has been eliminated,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a press statement. The body of the Palestinian militia leader has been identified.
- For Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the death of the Hamas leader could mark “the beginning of the end” of the war waged for more than a year in Gaza against the Islamic organization after the October 7 attack. “This does not mean the end of the war in Gaza, but the beginning of the end,” he said on the night of Thursday to Friday.
- Questioned this Friday morning by France Inter, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot described Yahya Sinouar as “architect of the worst anti-Semitic massacre since the Shoah”. His death “must be a turning point, the moment to turn the page on the war in Gaza,” he said. From now on, three objectives remain: the “release of the hostages, an unconditional ceasefire” and “the unhindered and massive delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza”, assures the minister.
- On the ground, Hezbollah announced it was moving “up a gear” in its war with Israel this Friday. The pro-Iranian movement has been firing missiles or rockets at the Jewish state for more than a year. Hezbollah announced in particular that precision-guided missiles “were used for the first time”.
Latest updates
09:49 – Hezbollah says it wants to “step up a gear”
The Lebanese Shiite terrorist movement Hezbollah announced this Thursday that it wanted to move “up a gear” in the war with Israel after the death of the Hamas leader. The organization says it has already used precision-guided missiles to target IDF soldiers “for the first time.” The movement wishes to “move to a new stage (…) in the confrontation with the Israeli enemy”, we can read in a press release.
09:40 – “We must now end the war”, pleads Macron
In Brussels, Thursday evening, Emmanuel Macron recalled France’s “commitment” to Israel which “remains, as we have shown again this year by participating in The Defense of Israel”, against attacks from Iran and Houthis.
After the death of Hamas leader Sinouar, the President of the Republic called for this “opportunity” to be seized so that the war could “finally be stopped”. “We must now put an end to the war” and open a “credible perspective for Israelis and Palestinians,” said the head of state. “We must increase humanitarian operations, which are at their lowest, and move forward to put an end to settler violence in the West Bank.” He also called for moving toward a “two-state solution.”
10/17/24 – 11:23 p.m. – After the death of Yahya Sinouar, Emmanuel Macron’s appeal to Israel
END OF LIVE – From Brussels, where he spoke at a press conference following a European summit, Emmanuel Macron reacted to the news that the Hebrew State had killed the leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinouar. The President of the French Republic called for this “opportunity” to be seized so that the war could “finally be stopped”. “Adding war to war brings neither peace nor security,” said the tenant of the Élysée. Concerning Lebanon, Emmanuel Macron declared that “France asks Israel to end its military operations.” Finally, regarding the controversy with Benjamin Netanyahu, he assured that Paris had “never failed” to Israel.
10/17/24 – 9:32 p.m. – “Hamas will no longer rule Gaza”, assures Benyamin Netanyahu
“I stand before you today to announce that Yahya Sinouar has been eliminated,” the Israeli Prime Minister announced early Thursday evening on the social network terrible part of the history of our people since the Holocaust, the leader of the murderers who killed thousands of Israelis and kidnapped hundreds, was killed today by our heroic soldiers.” Benyamin Netanyahu then estimated that Israel had “settled [ses] “Today, evil has suffered a hard blow, but the mission is not yet accomplished,” added the Israeli Prime Minister, before adding: “Its elimination is an important step in the fall of the evil Hamas regime. I want to say it once again, in the clearest way: Hamas will no longer rule Gaza […] and this is an opportunity for you, residents of Gaza, to finally free yourselves from his tyranny.”
10/17/24 – 7:30 p.m. – Who will succeed Yahya Sinouar to lead Hamas?
The death of Yahya Sinouar is a hard blow for Hamas, which has already seen several of its main leaders eliminated by Israeli forces. But according to CNN, which cites American intelligence sources, several names have already been mentioned to succeed the leader of Hamas:
- Mohammed Sinouar: brother of Yahya Sinouar who has been in charge of armed operations in Gaza since his appointment as head of the political bureau. He supports strong and radical opposition to Israel and is disinclined to negotiations.
- Khalil Al Hayya: elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council and senior Hamas official. He was one of the main negotiators with the former leader of the movement, Ismaïl Haniyeh and would remain open to talks, which would suit the United States, says CNN.
- Khaled Meshaal: head of the Syrian branch of Hamas, but his appointment may be prevented by his previous support for the regime of Bashar Al-Assad in Syria.
10/17/24 – 7:18 p.m. – Who was Yahya Sinouar?
Yahya Sinouar became the political leader of the Palestinian Islamist movement two months ago after the death of his predecessor, Ismaïl Haniyeh, on July 31, 2024. But before that, the man was already high up in the Hamas hierarchy as the leader of the group in the Gaza Strip. He was also considered one of the sponsors of the October 7 terrorist attacks by Israel. “This abominable attack was decided by Yahya Sinouar,” declared the chief of staff of the Israeli army, Herzi Halevi. The government then set itself the objective of eradicating Hamas and all its leaders, including Yahya Sinouar.
Since October 7, the man had rarely been seen. He was “on the run” and was going “from hiding place to hiding place” according to the Israeli government. Senior officials in the Jewish state even told the Washington Post that Yahya Sinouar lived surrounded by hostages serving as a human shield. According to the Israeli army, the attack which killed the Hamas leader this Thursday was carried out in a building which did not house any hostages.
Born in 1962 in the Khan Younes refugee camp, in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinouar joined Hamas from its founding in 1987, with the mission of identifying and eliminating Israel’s informants. He was arrested two later and sentenced to prison. After 20 years in prison, he was released in 2011 as part of an exchange of 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for the release of Franco-Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. But the man had taken advantage of his years of imprisonment by “studying the enemy” according to Michaël Prazan, specialist in terrorism and Hamas, interviewed by BFMTV.
42,409. This is the number of deaths in the Gaza Strip since the Hamas terrorist offensive on October 7, 2023 in Israel. A figure communicated by the Ministry of Health of the Hamas government on Monday October 14, 2024 and which reveals the intensity of the fighting which has lasted for more than a year now. Over the months, tensions intensified, and as of October 27, 2023, Israel extended its ground operation to Gaza. The objective for Netanyahu and the IDF is clear: to “annihilate” Hamas. A one-week ceasefire nevertheless took place in November 2023. After a significant leap forward, on April 13, 2024, Iran launched its first massive attack on Israel. Hamas ally, Iran then fired nearly 350 explosive drones and missiles at the Jewish state. An attack in response to missiles fired at the embassy in Damascus, Syria on April 1, in which 11 people lost their lives, including seven Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Tuesday September 17, 2024, a new kind of attack broke into the war. Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies explode. Twelve deaths and nearly 3,000 injured have been recorded in Lebanon. Since its coordinated explosions, Israel has continued to strike Lebanon with air or ground raids. More than 1,000 people are killed in IDF strikes and thousands of Lebanese are forced to be displaced. On October 1, 2024, Iran responded by sending nearly 200 ballistic missiles directly to Israel. Since then, the two countries have been waging a merciless war. On October 8, 2024, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, threatened Lebanon with “destruction and suffering like those we see in Gaza” if the population of the country does not ” “liberated” not from Hezbollah. Comments described as “provocation” by the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot.
Monday October 14, 2024, Lebanese Hezbollah threatened Israel with new attacks in a press release. As a reminder, Hezbollah had struck Haifa two days earlier, killing four Israeli soldiers and injuring no fewer than 60. At the start of the week, the terrorist organization indicated that “the resistance (…) promises the enemy”. The raid carried out “south of Haifa is only a foretaste of what awaits him if he decides to continue his attacks against our people”, she threatens. According to Palestinian doctors cited by Associated Press, the courtyard of a hospital in the Gaza Strip was then bombed by the Israeli army, killing at least four people and causing a fire in a camp for displaced people.