Iran-backed terrorist group Hamas on Friday confirmed the death of its leader Yahya Sinwar in the Gaza Strip, celebrating a “martyr” and marking the death of dozens of Israeli hostages it has held for more than a year. I swore I wouldn't let him go.
Sinwar, a former leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, took over the entire organization in August after its “political” leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in a bombing in Tehran. he is widely I believed Planned and organized the massacre of 1,200 people and widespread atrocities committed against Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023, and among Hamas's genocidal jihadists against Israelis and Jews in general. He was notable for pressuring people to accept even more gruesome violence. According to reports from Hamas last month, Sinwar's major policy change when he took over Hamas was to call for more suicide bombings against Israel.
Khalil Haya, who succeeded Mr. Sinwar as head of Hamas' Gaza Strip, on Friday confirmed Mr. Sinwar's death and celebrated him as a “martyr” who Hamas captured on October 7. He insisted that the approximately 100 hostages would not be released.
“[Sinwar] He has lived his entire life as a Saint. He has been fighting as a resistance fighter since he was a child,” Haya said. claimedaccording to a translation by Qatar News Agency Al Jazeera. “He stood defiantly in an Israeli prison and continued his struggle and dedication to the cause after his release in an exchange deal.”
Haya said Sinwar's absence would “strengthen” Hamas and vowed not to release the hostages.
“My occupation is [Israeli] The prisoners will not return until the invasion of Gaza stops and there is a complete withdrawal from Gaza. [Gaza]And our prisoners will be released from prison,” Haya said. “Hamas will continue to exist until a Palestinian state is established throughout Palestine, with Jerusalem as its capital.”
Hamas advocates the complete destruction and extermination of the Israeli state and its population, an obvious genocidal goal, and the replacement of Israel with the Islamist state of Palestine.
Iran's state propaganda broadcaster Press TV quoted Bassem Naim, another alleged “high-ranking Hamas official”, who made similarly defiant remarks on Friday.
“Hamas is a liberation movement led by people seeking freedom and dignity, and it cannot be excluded,” Naim said. claimed. “I believe that our destiny is either victory or martyrdom.”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed on Thursday that it had eliminated Shinwar from the Gaza Strip. IDF ground forces reportedly identified suspicious Hamas activity in the southern city of Rafah and engaged terrorists on the move. This engagement resulted in the elimination of the terrorists, a detachment that included Sinwar and his bodyguards. Sinwar himself was reportedly killed by an Israeli tank shell. The operation did not target Sinwar personally, and Israeli soldiers initially did not know who they were fighting.
Haya said Hamas could not consider releasing prisoners on October 7, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proposed on Thursday to end Israel's war with the terrorist organization on the condition that the hostages be freed. This seems to be a reaction to what happened.
“This is not the end of the war in Gaza, but it is the beginning of the end,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Gaza residents. “To the people of Gaza, I have a simple message: This war can end tomorrow. It can end if Hamas lays down its arms and returns its hostages.”
Prime Minister Netanyahu added: “Israel will guarantee the safety of all those who return the hostages…But there is a different message for those who wish to harm the hostages. Israel will hunt you down and bring you to justice. It's up to you,” he added.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant made a similar offer to Hamas after Sinwar's death was confirmed.
“The removal of Yahya Sinwar sends a clear message to the families of all fallen soldiers and families of hostages. We're doing everything we can to get it back on track,''' Gallant said.
“This is also a clear message to the people of Gaza: the end has come for the man who brought disaster and death to the Gaza Strip, the man who made you suffer as a result of his murderous acts,” he continued. “It's time to go, free the hostages, [to those involved in fighting] Raise your hands and surrender. Get out with the hostages, free them and surrender. ”
Mr. Sinwar is the latest to join the list of Iran-backed terrorist group leaders removed from the battlefield in the past six months, some due to explicit Israeli action, others due to in an attack widely believed to have been carried out by Israel. Mr. Haniyeh, who preceded Mr. Sinwar in leading Hamas, died on July 31 in an explosion at his quarters in Tehran where he was attending the inauguration of Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian. Hassan Nasrallah, the head of the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon in September. Many of Hezbollah's middle managers were eliminated in a series of explosions across Lebanon in the same month that preceded Nasrallah's fall, triggered by pagers, walkie-talkies, and other home technology. At the time of writing, Israel has not claimed responsibility for these explosions.
Related — NYT's Friedman: Sinwar's Palestinian “human sacrifice” to capture “TikTok's next generation” sadly “worked”
