Israel has pledged to eliminate new Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, who is believed to be the mastermind behind the October 7 attack. Regional tensions are escalating as the Gaza war reaches its 11th month.
The appointment of Sinwar to lead the Palestinian militant group coincided with Israel bracing for potential Iranian retaliation following the killing of his predecessor, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran last week.
Addressing new recruits at a military base on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Israel is “determined” to protect itself.
“We are prepared both defensively and offensively,” he informed.
Army chief Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi pledged to “locate him (Sinwar), attack him,” and compel Hamas to find a replacement for him.
Sinwar, who has been Hamas’s leader in Gaza since 2017, has not been seen since the October 7 attack, which was the deadliest in Israel’s history.
A senior Hamas official informed AFP that Sinwar’s appointment conveys the message that the organization “continues its path of resistance”.
Analysts believe that Sinwar has been less inclined to agree to a Gaza ceasefire and has been closer to Tehran than Haniyeh, who resided in Qatar.
“If a ceasefire agreement appeared unlikely after Haniyeh’s death, it is even less likely under Sinwar,” remarked Rita Katz, executive director of the SITE Intelligence Group, stating that Hamas would further intensify its hardline militant strategy.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has asserted that it is up to Sinwar to help achieve a ceasefire, mentioning that he “has been and remains the primary decision maker”.
Civilians in both Israel and Gaza expressed concern over Sinwar’s appointment.
Mohammad al-Sharif, a displaced Gazan, raised questions stating, “He is a fighter. How will negotiations take place?”
In Tel Aviv, logistics company manager Hanan, who preferred not to reveal his surname, commented that Sinwar’s appointment indicated that Hamas “did not see fit to look for someone less militant, someone with a less murderous approach”.
– Hezbollah vows response –
Hezbollah, Hamas’s ally based in Lebanon, has also promised to avenge the deaths of Haniyeh and its own military commander Fuad Shukr in an Israeli strike in Beirut.
In a televised address marking one week since Shukr’s death, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah declared that his group would retaliate “alone or in the context of a unified response from all the axis” of Iran-backed groups in the region.
The United States, which has deployed additional warships and jets to the region, has urged both Iran and Israel to avoid escalation.
President Joe Biden recently engaged with regional leaders, while Blinken informed reporters that the message of restraint had also been directly conveyed to both Israel and Iran.
French President Emmanuel Macron cautioned Netanyahu to “avoid a cycle of reprisals” and had conveyed the same message to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, as reported by the French presidency.
Pezeshkian stated to Macron in a separate phone conversation that the West “should immediately stop selling arms and supporting” Israel to prevent war, as per his office.
Israel has not officially commented on Haniyeh’s assassination in Iran but admitted to conducting the strike on Shukr in Beirut.
– Flights cancelled –
Hezbollah has engaged in almost daily cross-border exchanges with Israeli troops throughout the Gaza war.
According to a Lebanese security source, an Israeli strike near Jouaiyya close to the border resulted in the death of a Hezbollah fighter and a civilian. The Israeli military reported eliminating a Hamas commander in the area.
Subsequently, the Israeli military announced that its jets had destroyed a launcher used by Hezbollah to dispatch drones towards the Golan Heights earlier that evening.
Several airlines have halted flights to Lebanon or restricted them to daytime hours due to security concerns. Additionally, Egypt mentioned that Iran had cautioned civilian airlines to avoid its airspace due to planned military exercises overnight.
The UN disclosed that it was “temporarily” reducing the presence of UN staff family members in Lebanon but clarified that it was not relocating its staff.
The Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, sparked by the unprecedented October 7 attack by Hamas, has drawn in Iran-backed militants from Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen.
Over 1,198 individuals, mostly civilians, perished due to the Hamas attack, as per an AFP estimate based on Israeli official data.
Palestinian militants took 251 hostages, with 111 still held in Gaza, including 39 believed to be deceased, according to the Israeli military.
Israel’s retaliatory military operations in Gaza have caused the deaths of at least 39,677 individuals, as reported by the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which did not distinguish between civilian and militant casualties.
Israel’s military stated on Thursday that a strike in Gaza at the end of last month eliminated senior Hamas member Nael Sakhl, allegedly involved in “directing terror activities” in the occupied West Bank.
The conflict has led to a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, with nearly all of its 2.4 million residents displaced and grappling with food shortages.
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich faced criticism from allies for suggesting that “it might be justified” to starve the besieged territory.
“No one in the world will allow us to starve two million people, even though it might be justified and moral in order to free the hostages,” he stated at a conference earlier this week.
The EU condemned Smotrich’s remarks, citing “contempt for international law and for basic principles of humanity”.
France expressed “deep dismay” at the comments, while UK Foreign Minister David Lammy urged “the wider Israeli government to retract and condemn them”.Â
