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Killing of Hamas Chief Sinwar Sends Shockwaves Across Middle East, Raises New Uncertainty Over Hostages
Hamas leader and Oct. 7 pogrom mastermind Yahya Sinwar addressing a rally in Gaza. Photo: Reuters/braheem Abu Mustafa
The killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who masterminded the Palestinian terror group’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, has sent shockwaves throughout the Middle East, prompting concerns about retaliation and the safety of the 101 hostages still being held captive in Gaza, a former Israeli intelligence official told The Algemeiner on Thursday.
Sinwar was killed in an intense but routine firefight in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Wednesday night, according to the Israeli military. The force that eliminated Sinwar, which was a cadet squad that was not targeting the Hamas chief, first encountered resistance when tank shells were fired at a building where suspicious figures had been observed. Despite initial pushback, including grenade attacks from terrorists inside, the Israeli forces persisted, using drones to track the movements of fleeing combatants. After further shelling, one masked figure was located by a drone, and additional fire was directed at his position. A video later released by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) shows the masked figure, later identified as Sinwar, throwing a stick at the drone but missing.
It wasn’t until the following morning that Israeli forces discovered that the slain terrorist bore a striking resemblance to Sinwar. On his body, soldiers found several personal items, including a fake passport, Mentos, money, a weapon, a lighter, and an ID belonging to a United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) employee.
Items found by Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s body. Photo: Israel Defense Forces
Items found by Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s body. Photo: Israel Defense Forces
Sinwar’s death comes as negotiations over a hostage release deal have stalled, in part over the deceased terror chief’s maximalist position demanding the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and a permanent ceasefire, with the New York Times reporting last week that Sinwar’s “hardened” attitude had left US mediators to speculate that “Hamas has no intention of reaching a deal with Israel.” Israel, for its part, has consistently rejected any proposal that would allow Hamas to maintain control over the Gaza Strip or rebuild its military capabilities.
Israeli intelligence expert and former senior official on Arab affairs, Avi Melamed, said that the coming days will be crucial in determining the ramifications of Sinwar’s death with regard to the hostages kidnapped last Oct. 7. “Some of the people who are holding some of the hostages may take revenge and kill [them],” he warned.
On the other hand, Melamed said, Sinwar’s elimination might create new opportunities for negotiations, particularly if the Hamas leadership becomes destabilized, suggesting that “the path may now be open for some sort of arrangements or agreements” that could lead to the release of hostages.
But such an outcome is also fraught with challenges, because the hostages are estimated to be scattered across various locations in Gaza, he said, with some believed to be held by civilians rather than Hamas militants. “Even Hamas leadership, if they want to move forward, may have difficulties locating those who hold the hostages,” Melamed explained.
Israeli efforts to secure the release of hostages have been complicated by Hamas’s decentralized command structure, and the death of Sinwar introduces new uncertainty about who will succeed him as leader. While his brother, Mohammad Sinwar, is seen as a potential successor, there are conflicting reports about whether he is even alive, with some Arabic language reports saying that he was killed in the same strike that killed his brother.
Even though Mohammad Sinwar, as leader of the al-Qassam Brigades, holds significant sway within Hamas, he lacks the same level of authority, strategic insight, and influence as his brother. Yahya, as both the political and military leader in Gaza, had consolidated power across multiple facets of Hamas operations, making him a central figure both within the group’s leadership — including those in exile in Qatar — and in external negotiations. Mohammad, while influential within the military wing, does not possess Yahya’s extensive network or political clout, which could lead to internal challenges or a weakened leadership structure moving forward.
But Mohammad, Melamed stressed, is “no less brutal and psychopathic than his brother.”
Az al-Din Haddad, the commander of Hamas’s Gaza Brigade, stands as one of the few remaining high-ranking leaders within the al-Qassam Brigades, and could become a candidate to succeed Sinwar. Known for his resilience and charm, Haddad has survived multiple Israeli assassination attempts, a fact that has bolstered his standing within the organization. If Haddad were to succeed Sinwar, it would mark a shift in leadership.
Beyond the immediate hostage crisis, Sinwar’s killing also raises larger questions about broader strategic calculus, particularly regarding Iran, which backs Hamas.
“There is a connection between these things,” Melamed remarked. “One thought is this might incentivize Israel to attack Iran, while another says the total opposite, that now Israel will hold off on its plans to attack.”
According to Melamed, Israel may opt to hold off on a strike in Iran in retaliation for Tehran’s recent ballistic missile attack against the Jewish state to see whether Palestinians holding hostages will respond to the Israeli Prime Minister’s appeal for their release, which was issued shortly after the announcement of Sinwar’s death. Iranian state media are framing Sinwar’s death as an act of “martyrdom,” lauding the Hamas leader for “dying in combat” against Israel in Gaza.
Meanwhile Hamas-affiliated outlets have denied his death. The Gaza Now outlet posted a warning to its followers, stating, “Warning, the reports about the assassination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar are completely false, and the occupation’s publication and circulation of this news is an attempt to collect intelligence information, as it did previously with leader Muhammad al-Deif. Please be careful.”
The post Killing of Hamas Chief Sinwar Sends Shockwaves Across Middle East, Raises New Uncertainty Over Hostages first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Security Warning to Israelis Vacationing Abroad Ahead of holidays
A passenger arrives to a terminal at Ben Gurion international airport before Israel bans international flights, January 25, 2021. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – Ahead of the Jewish High Holidays, Israel’s National Security Council (NSC) published the latest threat assessment to Israelis abroad from terrorist groups to the public on Sunday, in order to increase the Israeli public’s awareness of the existing terrorist threats around the world and encourage individuals to take preventive action accordingly.
The NSC specified that the warning is an up-to-date reflection of the main trends in the activities of terrorist groups around the world and their impact on the level of threat posed to Israelis abroad during these times, but the travel warnings and restrictions themselves are not new.
“As the Gaza war continues and in parallel with the increasing threat of terrorism, the National Security Headquarters stated it has recognized a trend of worsening and increasing violent antisemitic incidents and escalating steps by anti-Israel groups, to the point of physically harming Israelis and Jews abroad. This is in light of, among other things, the anti-Israel narrative and the negative media campaign by pro-Palestinian elements — a trend that may encourage and motivate extremist elements to carry out terrorist activities against Israelis or Jews abroad,” the statement read.
“Therefore, the National Security Bureau is reinforcing its recommendation to the Israeli public to act with responsibility during this time when traveling abroad, to check the status of the National Security Bureau’s travel warnings (before purchasing tickets to the destination,) and to act in accordance with the travel warning recommendations and the level of risk in the country they are visiting,” it listed, adding that, as illustrated in the past year, these warnings are well-founded and reflect a tangible and valid threat potential.
The statement also emphasized the risk of sharing content on social media networks indicating current or past service in the Israeli security forces, as these posts increase the risk of being marked by various parties as a target. “Therefore, the National Security Council recommends that you do not upload to social networks, in any way, content that indicates service in the security forces, operational activity, or similar content, as well as real-time locations.”
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Israel Intensifies Gaza City Bombing as Rubio Arrives
Displaced Palestinians, fleeing northern Gaza due to an Israeli military operation, move southward after Israeli forces ordered residents of Gaza City to evacuate to the south, in the central Gaza Strip September 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Israeli forces destroyed at least 30 residential buildings in Gaza City and forced thousands of people from their homes, Palestinian officials said, as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived on Sunday to discuss the future of the conflict.
Israel has said it plans to seize the city, where about a million Palestinians have been sheltering, as part of its declared aim of eliminating the terrorist group Hamas, and has intensified attacks on what it has called Hamas’ last bastion.
The group’s political leadership, which has engaged in on-and-off negotiations on a possible ceasefire and hostage release deal, was targeted by Israel in an airstrike in Doha on Tuesday in an attack that drew widespread condemnation.
Qatar will host an emergency Arab-Islamic summit on Monday to discuss the next moves. Rubio said Washington wanted to talk about how to free the 48 hostages – of whom 20 are believed to be still alive – still held by Hamas in Gaza and rebuild the coastal strip.
“What’s happened, has happened,” he said. “We’re gonna meet with them (the Israeli leadership). We’re gonna talk about what the future holds,” Rubio said before heading to Israel where he will stay until Tuesday.
ABRAHAM ACCORDS AT RISK
He was expected to visit the Western Wall Jewish prayer site in Jerusalem on Sunday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and hold talks with him during the visit.
US officials described Tuesday’s strike on the territory of a close US ally as a unilateral escalation that did not serve American or Israeli interests. Rubio and US President Donald Trump both met Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani on Friday.
Netanyahu signed an agreement on Thursday to push ahead with a settlement expansion plan that would cut across West Bank land that the Palestinians seek for a state – a move the United Arab Emirates warned would undermine the US-brokered Abraham accords that normalized UAE relations with Israel.
Israel, which blocked all food from entering Gaza for 11 weeks earlier this year, has been allowing more aid into the enclave since late July to prevent further food shortages, though the United Nations says far more is needed.
It says it wants civilians to leave Gaza City before it sends more ground forces in. Tens of thousands of people are estimated to have left but hundreds of thousands remain in the area. Hamas has called on people not to leave.
Israeli army forces have been operating inside at least four eastern suburbs for weeks, turning most of at least three of them into wastelands. It is closing in on the center and the western areas of the territory, where most of the displaced people are taking shelter.
Many are reluctant to leave, saying there is not enough space or safety in the south, where Israel has told them to go to what it has designated as a humanitarian zone.
Some say they cannot afford to leave while others say they were hoping the Arab leaders meeting on Monday in Qatar would pressure Israel to scrap its planned offensive.
“The bombardment intensified everywhere and we took down the tents, more than twenty families, we do not know where to go,” said Musbah Al-Kafarna, displaced in Gaza City.
Israel said it had completed five waves of air strikes on Gaza City over the past week, targeting more than 500 sites, including Hamas reconnaissance and sniper sites, buildings containing tunnel openings and weapons depots.
Local officials, who do not distinguish between militant and civilian casualties, say at least 40 people were killed by Israeli fire across the enclave, a least 28 in Gaza City alone.
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Turkey Warns of Escalation as Israel Expands Strikes Beyond Gaza
Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (not seen) at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, May 13, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Umit Bektas
i24 News – An Israeli strike targeting Hamas officials in Qatar has sparked unease among several Middle Eastern countries that host leaders of the group, with Turkey among the most alarmed.
Officials in Ankara are increasingly worried about how far Israel might go in pursuing those it holds responsible for the October 7 attacks.
Israel’s prime minister effectively acknowledged that the Qatar operation failed to eliminate the Hamas leadership, while stressing the broader point the strike was meant to make: “They enjoy no immunity,” the government said.
On X, Prime Minister Netanyahu went further, writing that “the elimination of Hamas leaders would put an end to the war.”
A senior Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, summed up Ankara’s reaction: “The attack in Qatar showed that the Israeli government is ready to do anything.”
Legally and diplomatically, Turkey occupies a delicate position. As a NATO member, any military operation or targeted killing on its soil could inflame tensions within the alliance and challenge mutual security commitments.
Analysts caution, however, that Israel could opt for covert measures, operations carried out without public acknowledgement, a prospect that has increased anxiety in governments across the region.
Israeli officials remain defiant. In an interview with Ynet, Minister Ze’ev Elkin said: “As long as we have not stopped them, we will pursue them everywhere in the world and settle our accounts with them.” The episode underscores growing fears that efforts to hunt Hamas figures beyond Gaza could widen regional friction and complicate diplomatic relationships.