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Israel intensified its operations in Gaza on Friday, continuing its year-long campaign to dismantle Hamas following the significant blow dealt by the killing of its leader, Yahya Sinwar.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lauded Sinwar’s death, declaring that while the war triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack was far from over, it marked “the beginning of the end” for Hamas.
He characterized the killing of Sinwar, who orchestrated the deadliest attack in Israeli history, as a crucial milestone in the decline of Hamas.
At the time of the October attack, Sinwar was the chief of Hamas in Gaza and had ascended to the role of overall leader after the assassination of political chief Ismail Haniyeh in July.
Following Hamas’ official confirmation of Sinwar’s death, a senior official within the group asserted that Israel’s strategy of targeting its leaders would not lead to their defeat.
“Hamas is a liberation movement led by people looking for freedom and dignity, and this cannot be eliminated,” Basem Naim, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, told AFP, stopping short of confirming Sinwar’s death.
In central Gaza, Palestinian man Ali Shameli said, “Now that Sinwar has been killed, we hope that the war will stop” as the Israelis “have no reason to continue.”
But another Gaza resident, Amal Abzal, said the death of Sinwar, who “had the power to stop the war … means destruction for the Gaza Strip.”
Airstrikes
Hamas’ Oct. 7 incursion on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people.
The group also took 251 people hostage during the attack.
The killing of Sinwar did not spell an end to Israel’s airstrikes on Gaza, with several raids overnight and early Friday pummeling the territory, according to AFP.
According to Gaza’s civil defense agency, rescuers recovered the bodies of three Palestinian children from the rubble of their home in the north of the territory after it was hit at dawn.
The Israeli military said it was pressing its operation in Jabalia, one of the focuses of the fighting in recent weeks, where strikes on Thursday killed at least 14 people, according to two hospitals.
A U.N.-backed assessment has found that some 345,000 Gazans face “catastrophic” levels of hunger this winter.
Israel’s campaign to crush Hamas and bring back the hostages seized by the group has killed 42,438 people in Gaza, figures that the U.N. considers reliable.
With the civilian toll in Gaza mounting, Israel has faced criticism over its conduct in the war, including from the U.S.
Israeli military chief Herzi Halevi vowed to keep fighting until Hamas is annihilated.
Successor
More than a year into the Gaza conflict, Sinwar’s death deals an immense blow to the organization, but whether it will trigger a shift in its strategy is unclear.
It is also unclear whether his successor will be named in Qatar, where Hamas’ political leadership has long been based, or in Gaza, the focus of the conflict.
The Israeli military said Sinwar was killed in a firefight in southern Gaza’s Rafah, near the Egyptian border, while being tracked by a drone.
It released drone footage of what it said were Sinwar’s final moments, with the video showing a wounded person throwing an object at the drone.
Israel is also fighting a war in Lebanon, where Hamas ally Hezbollah opened a front by launching cross-border strikes against tens of thousands of Israelis.
Hezbollah said Thursday it was launching a new phase in its war against Israel and that it had used precision-guided missiles against troops for the first time.
The war since late September has left at least 1,418 people dead in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures, though the real toll is likely higher.
The war has also drawn in other Iran-aligned armed groups, including in Yemen, Iraq and Syria.
Iran on Oct. 1 conducted a missile strike on Israel, for which Israel has vowed to retaliate.
Tehran’s mission to the United Nations said Thursday that Sinwar’s killing would lead to the strengthening of “resistance” in the region.
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