“Yahya Sinwar is dead ...
While this is not the end of the war in Gaza, it’s the beginning of the end.” Paraphrasing British wartime leader Winston Churchill’s immortal words from November 1942, this is how Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu informed the world that the Israel Defence Forces had eliminated the mastermind of the October 7 massacre. In repurposing Churchill, Netanyahu was establishing the important point that although a major cog in the terror machine was removed, there is still much work to do.
For Israel, the immediate task now is to free the 101 hostages who are still held captive, somewhere, in Gaza. There is a strong belief that with Sinwar out of the picture, freeing the hostages will be easier to achieve. But answering the question of whether Sinwar’s death will hasten the war’s conclusion is complicated.
Reportedly, it was the messianic and fanatical Sinwar — Hamas’ leader in Gaza — who took the decision to invade Israel on October 7, without consulting Hamas’ official leadership living far away in the lap of luxury in Qatar. Even though he was largely incommunicado, hiding out in Gaza, it was Sinwar who replaced Hamas’ overall leader, Ismail Haniyeh, after Israel dramatically assassinated him in Iran’s capital Teheran on July 31. Who can replace Sinwar is debatable because Israel has succeeded in thinning out Hamas’ senior leadership.
Michaelia Cash Sinwar’s brother, Mohammed, considered a nasty piece of work, is on Israel’s hit.