50 | OCTOBER 24 • 2024 J
N
ATIA MOHAMMED/FLASH90/JNS
Hamas chief
Yahya Sinwar
at a rally in
Gaza City, May
24, 2021.
T
he elimination Oct. 16 of Yahya Sinwar,
Hamas’ top military-terrorist and polit-
ical chief and the architect of the Oct. 7
invasion — the worst massacre of Jews since the
Holocaust — marks a major turning point in the
battle to degrade the Iranian-backed jihadist net-
work surrounding Israel.
IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari
said on Oct. 10 that when Sinwar was killed, he
had been in flight, attempting to flee from house-
to-house between structures in Rafah, in southern
Gaza.
“Sinwar’s attempt to flee was driven by the pres-
sure exerted by Israeli forces, who had been clos-
ing in on him in Rafah over a prolonged period,
”
Hagari said, adding that Sinwar had been using
tunnels and the cover of civilians to avoid detec-
tion.
Sinwar’s elimination significantly weakens
Hamas’ operational capabilities and disrupts its
leadership structure. His removal is not only a
tactical victory but also a strategic achievement
that vindicates Israel’s refusal to agree to premature
withdrawals that would have allowed Hamas to
regroup and rearm. This achievement moves Israel
significantly closer to neutralizing the Iranian-
jihadist vision of a “ring of fire” around its borders.
Sinwar’s death sends the messages to terrorists
and their backers throughout the Middle East that
Israel will settle accounts with all who target its
people.
His death also provides Israel with unprecedent-
ed leverage in negotiations concerning the remain-
ing 101 Hamas-held hostages. Sinwar was known
for his hardline stance and unwillingness to com-
promise on his demands; his absence opens the
door to possible approaches by surviving Hamas
members holding the hostages.
Col. (res.) Amit Assa, a former senior member
of the Shin Bet intelligence service, stated that
Sinwar had expected Iran and Hezbollah to join
Hamas in the initial Oct. 7, 2023, attack but that
the timing wasn’t right for the Iranian axis to
join an all-out attack. This, despite the fact that
Hezbollah had prepared its own mass murder
ground assault from southern Lebanon, whose
infrastructure is now being destroyed by the IDF.
Ultimately, the elimination of Sinwar is more
than the death of a terrorist mastermind. It is a sig-
nificant milestone in Israel’s broader fight against
Iranian-backed jihadist movements that seek to
destroy the Jewish state and take over the Middle
East.
Israel has not only weakened its enemies; it is
creating new possibilities for the wider region.
Yaakov Lappin is an Israel-based military affairs correspondent
and analyst. Follow him at www.patreon.com/yaakovlappin.
Sinwar’s
Death is
a ‘Major
Turning
Point’
YAAKOV LAPPIN JNS, ANALYSIS
ERETZ
For months, the United States has signaled that
Yahya Sinwar was the biggest impediment to a
ceasefire deal in the Israel-Hamas war, with the
Hamas leader unwilling to consider any scenarios
that would require his group to cede control over
the Palestinian territory.
But does that mean his death indicates the war
could soon come to an end?
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala
Harris, the Democratic candidate for president
in next month’s election, say they think it should.
But both Israel and Hamas have signaled that
they plan to keep fighting.
Officially announcing Sinwar’s death on Oct.
11, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted,
“While this is not the end of the war in Gaza, it’s
the beginning of the end … Today, evil suffered a
heavy blow, but our mission is not yet complet-
ed.”
For its part, neither Hamas nor its allies have
indicated any plans to give up fighting. Iran, too,
said the “spirit of resistance” among those oppos-
ing Israel would be strengthened by Sinwar’s
death. And Hezbollah, the terror group that Israel
has been battling in Lebanon, said it would esca-
late its aggression against Israel.
On Oct 11, President Joe Biden, speaking at a
gathering of world leaders in Germany, said he
told Netanyahu that now was the time to “move
toward a ceasefire in Gaza … to be in a position
to make things better for the whole world.”
John Kirby, Biden’s National Security Council
spokesman, said Sinwar’s removal offers Israel
ample room now to get to a ceasefire.
“Sinwar was the main obstacle to getting a
ceasefire done,” he told reporters in Germany.
Every time Sinwar’s negotiators would provi-
sionally agree to a deal, it would need his final
approval and he would nix it, Kirby said. “It’s not
as if the Israelis weren’t willing to continue to find
compromises, and they did — each and every
time, Sinwar found a way to stop it,” Kirby said.
“His death does provide a unique opportunity
here.”
Even as many Israelis rejoiced at Sinwar’s
death, families of the 101 people still held hostage
in Gaza — including dozens thought to be alive
— said they feared that it would place their loved
ones in greater danger. They said they feared
that hostages would be executed in retaliation.
Israeli officials disclosed that six hostages exe-
cuted in August had been killed as troops closed
in on where they believed Sinwar was hiding, and
DNA evidence later confirmed that the Hamas
leader had been in the same tunnel.
Will Top Terrorist’s Death
Help End the Gaza War?
JTA STAFF
MAHMUD HAMS/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES/JNS
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar holds the son of an
Al-Qassam Brigades terrorist who was killed in
recent fighting with Israel, during a rally in Gaza
City, May 24, 2021.