In a major game-changer of its war against Hamas, Israel eliminated the Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar who was the mastermind behind the October 7 strike that killed 1,200 people and the taking of 250 hostages of many nationalities. A year-long hunt for him in Gaza tunnel networks had proved futile for the Israel Defence Forces and it was by chance that he was among those spotted and killed in Rafah in southern Gaza.
The death of a most violent militant leader brings an end to a long chapter of sustained terrorism against Israel, but it is not the end of the war in Gaza and may only be the beginning of the end as Hamas vows to fight on and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu seeks aggressive avenues to bring back 101 hostages still thought to be alive.
Having eliminated Ismail Haniyeh, the political head, in Tehran in July, Isael may have met at least a major objective in the war of targeting the top Hamas leadership, but there is no sign that a ceasefire is being sought by either side after the death of Sinwar who had assumed leadership of the political wing as well on Haniyeh’s death.
Mr Netanyahu must be pleased that his ratings are going up even as two hawkish far-right parties in the coalition would wish the operations must go on against Hezbollah as well as Hamas even as a strike against Iran is being planned and could be timed before the US election to make a splash.
The US and the West sees the death of Sinwar, a prisoner in Israel who was released in 2001 as 1,000 Palestinians in jail were swapped for one Israeli soldier, as an opportunity to bring the entire Middle East conflict to an end.
Whether Mr Netanyahu and his Cabinet see it that way will determine if a bloody conflict that has flattened over two-thirds of cities in Gaza, displaced two million and killed over 42,000 Palestinians, besides striking Beirut and southern parts of Lebanon, will ever see an end.
