Will Sinwar’s Killing End the War?

US officials have long suggested that the killing of Yahya Sinwar would be a significant opportunity to end the war between Israel and Hamas.

According to CNN, Sinwar’s death would have major implications, especially in Washington. His death, perhaps more than anything else, is an event that many US officials see as a turning point in the war between Israel and Hamas, which has been ongoing for more than a year.

With a ceasefire and hostage swap stalled for months, senior US administration officials have been hoping that Sinwar would finally be eliminated, opening up new horizons that were not possible under current circumstances.

US officials have believed that Sinwar is Israel’s most important target for announcing an end to the war in Gaza.

Even in discussions of a near-impossible “all for all” deal to release all the hostages held by Hamas in exchange for all the Palestinian prisoners Hamas wants, some US officials have suggested that the idea might become possible if Sinwar were eliminated.

Will Hamas be willing to make concessions?

According to the New York Times, Sinwar’s death could hand Israel a symbolic victory that could force Hamas to accept some Israeli demands or give Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the political cover he needs to soften his negotiating position.

Since the war broke out, most cease-fire negotiations have been held in Egypt and Qatar. However, Sinwar has played a pivotal role while hiding in Gaza. According to a source familiar with the talks, Sinwar’s approval through Hamas negotiators was required before any concessions were accepted.

While senior Hamas officials have long maintained that Sinwar is not the final arbiter of the movement’s decisions, his leadership role in Gaza and his powerful personality have given him significant influence over Hamas’s way of operating, according to his allies and opponents.

“No decision can be made without consulting Sinwar,” said Hamas member and political analyst Salah al-Din al-Awda, who was close to Sinwar when he was detained in Israel in the 1990s and 2000s. “Sinwar is not an ordinary leader, but a powerful figure and a leading figure in the cause,” al-Awda added.

Sinwar killed

According to Israeli military radio, the incident occurred during a precision ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, where Israeli forces killed three militants and took their bodies.

Sinwar, the mastermind of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the conflict in Gaza, was appointed head of Hamas’s political bureau, succeeding Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Tehran in July.

Sinwar has gained a reputation for punishing Palestinians who collaborate with Israel, and is believed to be hiding in a network of underground tunnels that Hamas has built in the Gaza Strip over the past two decades, evading detection so far.

Israel also killed Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, along with several senior members of the group’s armed wing, in Beirut last month.

On October 7, Hamas launched an offensive against Israel, claiming to have killed 1,200 people and taken more than 250 hostage in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli attacks killed more than 42,000 people, destroyed large parts of the Gaza Strip and displaced most of the population.