Israel has reportedly vowed to eliminate Yahya Sinwar, the newly appointed Hamas leader, who is believed to have orchestrated the October 7 horrific assault. The growing local tensions threaten to worsen an ongoing Gaza war which is now in its 11th month.
Israel was preparing for a possible strike at Iran just as Sinwar took over as head of the Palestinian militant group after his predecessor Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Tehran last week.
On Wednesday Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed new recruits at a military base where he said that his country was well prepared both defensively and offensively. “We are ready both in defense and offense,” he told new recruits.
Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi affirmed that he would track Sinwar down forcing Hamas to find someone else.
Sinwar has not appeared since the deadliest attack in Israeli history on October 7th, leaving him out of sight for the past two weeks while leading Hamas in Gaza since 2017.
A senior official from Hamas confirmed that Sinwar’s selection underscores the group’s steadfastness for resistance.
It is also believed that compared to Haniyeh who lived in Qatar, Sinwar had more reservations about agreeing to ceasefires with Gaza and had stronger connections with Tehran. This means reaching a ceasefire agreement is even less likely under Sinwar’s leadership as they are expected to intensify their hard-line militarism.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken referred to him as “he is and remains his main decision-maker” when talking about his role in securing cease fire
Nevertheless, civilians from both Gaza and Israel have raised concerns over how it will be done under the current establishment headed by Insinewar
While Mohammed al-Sharif, a displaced Gazan asked if there could be any form of negotiation under Insinewar’s leadership; Hanan, AFP reported her name as Logistics Company Manager and living in Tel Aviv, argued that this choice by Hamas meant they were not willing to move away from militant tendencies.
