US President Joe Biden says Sinwar’s death marks a “good day” for Israel, the US and the world. It also provides a chance for an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, Biden believes.
France’s foreign minister has stated that “the page needs to be turned in the region”, according to Reuters.
And from inside Gaza and Israel, there are hopes that Yahya Sinwar’s death could mean that Israel declares victory and opens negotiations.
– The families of the hostages are pushing very hard as they want to see a settlement so that the hostages can be released. Even people from inside Gaza, whom I spoke to this evening, have expressed hopes that this could be the beginning to the end, says Stina Blomgren.
Aron Lund, analyst at FOI, believes that it is up to Israel if this is the end of the war.
– For Israel, it is an opportunity to declare victory and start scaling back the war, if you want it. It is not clear that they want to, Netanyahu did not sound like that now, he says.
Netanyahu: The war is not over
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed in a speech during Thursday evening that the war is not over.
– We continue with full force until the hostages are back, he says.
Netanyahu promises that those who lay down their arms and free the hostages will be spared, but that those who harm the hostages will “get their punishment”.
– When we get the hostages back, we can achieve our goals and end the war, says Netanyahu.
“Can become more dysfunctional”
For Hamas, it will be a difficult task to replace Yahya Sinwar. He became the top leader after Ismail Haniya was killed in August, but is believed to have been the organization’s strongman even before that. It was also Sinwar’s troops who carried out the October 7 terrorist attack, which Sinwar is believed to have planned.
– Sinwar has united power in Gaza and political legitimacy. It probably won’t be easy to replace, says analyst Aron Lund.
He continues:
– The organization can become more dysfunctional and this can make negotiations about the hostages and the control of the list more difficult.
Around 100 hostages are believed to remain in Gaza. It is unclear how many of them are still alive.