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With Jihadist Mass Murderer Dead, Israel Takes Another Stride Forward
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar looks on as Palestinian Hamas supporters take part in an anti-Israel rally over tension in Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque, in Gaza City, Oct. 1, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
JNS.org – The elimination of Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s top military-terrorist and political chief and the architect of the Oct. 7 invasion—the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust—marks a major turning point in the battle to degrade the Iranian-backed jihadist network surrounding Israel.
IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari explained on Thursday that Sinwar had been attempting to flee from house to house, moving between structures in Rafah. Hagari noted that Sinwar “was in flight,” and at one point, after the entourage protecting him had been fired upon by the IDF and split up, Sinwar fled alone into a building.
Sinwar’s death, achieved by fighters from the 450th battalion of the IDF School for Infantry Corps Professions and Squad Commanders (known by its Hebrew acronym, the Bislamach Brigade) occurred in Rafah on Oct. 16.
Two tank shells directed by the force at the building where he was hiding led to Sinwar to first being injured, and then killed by the second shell. In between the two shell strikes, a squad commander with soldiers who attempted to search the building encountered grenades, retreated, and sent quadcopters inside to gather intelligence. One of the quadcopters filmed Sinwar sitting in a room, injured, hurling a plank at the drone (and missing it). The tank shell that eliminated Sinwar soon followed.
Sinwar’s attempt to flee, Hagari said, was driven by the pressure exerted by Israeli forces, who had been closing in on him in Rafah over a prolonged period. Hagari also mentioned that Sinwar had been using tunnels and the cover of civilians to avoid detection. His DNA had been found in a tunnel located a few hundred meters from the site of where Hamas murdered six Israeli hostages in late August.
The elimination significantly weakens Hamas’s operational capabilities and disrupts its leadership structure. Sinwar’s removal is not only a tactical victory but also a strategic achievement that vindicates Israel’s refusal to agree to premature withdrawals that would have allowed Hamas to regroup and rearm. This achievement moves Israel significantly closer to neutralizing the Iranian-jihadist vision of a “ring of fire” around its borders.
Since his release in the 2011 Shalit deal, Yahya Sinwar was the primary architect behind Hamas’s terrorist infrastructure and strategy in Gaza. He was the mastermind behind the genocidal attack on southern Israel a year ago, and his elimination sends the messages to terrorists and their backers throughout the Middle East that Israel will settle accounts with all who target its people.
According to Hagari, Sinwar’s was located after months of intelligence efforts by the IDF and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency).
“We closed in on him over a period of months, and despite not knowing his precise location at times, we continued our determined pursuit,” the admiral said.
In recent months, Hamas has ceased functioning as a centralized terror army, devolving instead into a decentralized network of guerilla terrorist cells. While the elimination of Sinwar will not entirely dismantle Hamas, it accelerates its transformation into a less coordinated and more fragmented organization, removing its ability to plan and conduct large-scale terror operations out of Gaza.
These developments send a clear message to the entire region: Israel will not tolerate a return to the status quo where Hamas is left intact to rebuild its terrorist army.
Unprecedented leverage
The death of Sinwar also provides Israel with unprecedented leverage in negotiations concerning the remaining 101 Hamas-held hostages. He was known for his hardline stance and unwillingness to compromise on his demands; his absence opens the door to possible approaches by surviving Hamas members holding the hostages.
Israel now has the opportunity to offer immunity or other deals to lower-ranking Hamas terrorists in exchange for the safe release of hostages. With their morale degraded and Israel’s determination to prevent them from retaking Gaza clearer than ever, the remaining Hamas leaders may be more willing to negotiate, offering Israel a new path to secure the return of its citizens.
While Sinwar’s elimination is a significant victory, it does not signal the end of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. The goal to prevent Hamas from regrouping and reconstituting its terrorist capabilities remains.
Col. (res.) Amit Assa, a former senior member of the Shin Bet intelligence service, stated in a call organized by Media Central that eliminating terrorist leaders is crucial, especially during wartime, when it is more difficult for an organization to replace its leadership efficiently.
Assa highlighted that Sinwar had expected Iran and Hezbollah to join Hamas in the initial Oct. 7, 2023, attack but that the timing wasn’t right for the Iranian axis to join an all-out attack. This despite the fact that Hezbollah had prepared its own mass murder ground assault from Southern Lebanon, whose infrastructure is now being destroyed by the IDF.
Sinwar’s elimination will help “people in Gaza, also terrorists, know that this is the end of the Hamas. And if it’s the end of the Hamas, they have no advantage keeping the hostages,” said Assa. “I think what will happen now is as the time will go by, we will see hostages getting free and we hope every one of them.”
Lt. Col. (res.) Jonathan Conricus, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a former IDF international spokesperson, highlighted the implications of Sinwar’s death, stating, “When I scan the horizon of Hamas leadership and I look at who is next in line …, they are way down, many levels down the food chain from where Yahya Sinwar was.”
He named Sinwar’s brother Muhammad as a lead candidate to replace him.
For the broader Middle East, Sinwar’s death could serve as a catalyst for change. Without Hamas’s iron grip on Gaza, there is potential for Palestinian factions and civilians to explore new possibilities for governance and cooperation.
“I think that this poses a lot of opportunities for Israel, but most importantly for Palestinians, for those who want to seize opportunity and get free of Hamas rule and oppression of Gaza and perhaps turn the page on a better future for Gaza,” said Conricus.
Ultimately, the elimination of Sinwar is more than the death of a terrorist mastermind. It is a significant milestone in Israel’s broader fight against Iranian-backed jihadist movements that seek to destroy the Jewish state and take over the Middle East.
Israel has not only weakened its enemies; it is creating new possibilities for the wider region.
The post With Jihadist Mass Murderer Dead, Israel Takes Another Stride Forward first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Blocks Ramallah Meeting with Arab Ministers, Israeli Official Says
A closed Israeli military gate stands near Ramallah in the West Bank, February 18, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Israel will not allow a planned meeting in the Palestinian administrative capital of Ramallah, in the West Bank, to go ahead, an Israeli official said on Saturday, after Arab ministers planning to attend were stopped from coming.
The move, days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government announced one of the largest expansions of settlements in the West Bank in years, underlined escalating tensions over the issue of international recognition of a future Palestinian state.
Saturday’s meeting comes ahead of an international conference, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, that is due to be held in New York on June 17-20 to discuss the issue of Palestinian statehood, which Israel fiercely opposes.
The delegation of senior Arab officials due to visit Ramallah – including the Jordanian, Egyptian, Saudi Arabian and Bahraini foreign ministers – postponed the visit after “Israel’s obstruction of it,” Jordan’s foreign ministry said in a statement, adding that the block was “a clear breach of Israel’s obligations as an occupying force.”
The ministers required Israeli consent to travel to the West Bank from Jordan.
An Israeli official said the ministers intended to take part in “a provocative meeting” to discuss promoting the establishment of a Palestinian state.
“Such a state would undoubtedly become a terrorist state in the heart of the land of Israel,” the official said. “Israel will not cooperate with such moves aimed at harming it and its security.”
A Saudi source told Reuters that Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud had delayed a planned trip to the West Bank.
Israel has come under increasing pressure from the United Nations and European countries which favour a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, under which an independent Palestinian state would exist alongside Israel.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that recognizing a Palestinian state was not only a “moral duty but a political necessity.”
Palestinians want the West Bank territory, which was seized by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, as the core of a future state along with Gaza and East Jerusalem.
But the area is now criss-crossed with settlements that have squeezed some 3 million Palestinians into pockets increasingly cut off from each other though a network of military checkpoints.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said the announcement this week of 22 new settlements in the West Bank was an “historic moment” for settlements and “a clear message to Macron.” He said recognition of a Palestinian state would be “thrown into the dustbin of history.”
The post Israel Blocks Ramallah Meeting with Arab Ministers, Israeli Official Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Gaza Aid Supplies Hit by Looting as Hamas Ceasefire Response Awaited
Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
Armed men hijacked dozens of aid trucks entering the Gaza Strip overnight and hundreds of desperate Palestinians joined in to take supplies, local aid groups said on Saturday as officials waited for Hamas to respond to the latest ceasefire proposals.
The incident was the latest in a series that has underscored the shaky security situation hampering the delivery of aid into Gaza, following the easing of a weeks-long Israeli blockade earlier this month.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday he believed a ceasefire agreement was close but Hamas has said it is still studying the latest proposals from his special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. The White House said on Thursday that Israel had agreed to the proposals.
The proposals would see a 60-day truce and the exchange of 28 of the 58 hostages still held in Gaza for more than 1,200 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, along with the entry of humanitarian aid into the enclave.
On Saturday, the Israeli military, which relaunched its air and ground campaign in March following a two-month truce, said it was continuing to hit targets in Gaza, including sniper posts and had killed what it said was the head of a Hamas weapons manufacturing site.
The campaign has cleared large areas along the boundaries of the Gaza Strip, squeezing the population of more than 2 million into an ever narrower section along the coast and around the southern city of Khan Younis.
Israel imposed a blockade on all supplies entering the enclave at the beginning of March in an effort to weaken Hamas and has found itself under increasing pressure from an international community shocked by the increasingly desperate humanitarian situation the blockade has created.
The United Nations said on Friday the situation in Gaza is the worst since the start of the war began 19 months ago, with the entire population facing the risk of famine despite a resumption of limited aid deliveries earlier this month.
Israel has been allowing a limited number of trucks from the World Food Program and other international groups to bring flour to bakeries in Gaza but deliveries have been hampered by repeated incidents of looting.
At the same time, a separate system, run by a US-backed group called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has been delivering meals and food packages at three designated distribution sites.
However, aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF, which they say is not neutral, and say the amount of aid allowed in falls far short of the needs of a population at risk of famine.
“The aid that’s being sent now makes a mockery of the mass tragedy unfolding under our watch,” Philippe Lazzarini, head of the main U.N. relief organization for Palestinians, said in a message on the social media platform X.
NO BREAD IN WEEKS
The World Food Program said it brought 77 trucks carrying flour into Gaza overnight and early on Saturday and all of them were stopped on the way, with food taken by hungry people.
“After nearly 80 days of a total blockade, communities are starving and they are no longer willing to watch food pass them by,” it said in a statement.
Amjad Al-Shawa, head of an umbrella group representing Palestinian aid groups, said the dire situation was being exploited by armed groups which were attacking some of the aid convoys.
He said hundreds more trucks were needed and accused Israel of a “systematic policy of starvation.”
Overnight on Saturday, he said trucks had been stopped by armed groups near Khan Younis as they were headed towards a World Food Programme warehouse in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza and hundreds of desperate people had carried off supplies.
“We could understand that some are driven by hunger and starvation, some may not have eaten bread in several weeks, but we can’t understand armed looting, and it is not acceptable at all,” he said.
Israel says it is facilitating aid deliveries, pointing to its endorsement of the new GHF distribution centers and its consent for other aid trucks to enter Gaza.
Instead it accuses Hamas of stealing supplies intended for civilians and using them to entrench its hold on Gaza, which it had been running since 2007.
The post Gaza Aid Supplies Hit by Looting as Hamas Ceasefire Response Awaited first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Seeks Changes in US Gaza Proposal; Witkoff Calls Response ‘Unacceptable’
US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy-designate Steve Witkoff gives a speech at the inaugural parade inside Capital One Arena on the inauguration day of Trump’s second presidential term, in Washington, DC, Jan. 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
Hamas said on Saturday it was seeking amendments to a US-backed proposal for a temporary ceasefire with Israel in Gaza, but President Donald Trump’s envoy rejected the group’s response as “totally unacceptable.”
The Palestinian terrorist group said it was willing to release 10 living hostages and hand over the bodies of 18 dead in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. But Hamas reiterated demands for an end to the war and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, conditions Israel has rejected.
A Hamas official described the group’s response to the proposals from Trump’s special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff as “positive” but said it was seeking some amendments. The official did not elaborate on the changes being sought by the group.
“This response aims to achieve a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and to ensure the flow of humanitarian aid to our people in the Strip,” Hamas said in a statement.
The proposals would see a 60-day truce and the exchange of 28 of the 58 hostages still held in Gaza for more than 1,200 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, along with the entry of humanitarian aid into the enclave.
A Palestinian official familiar with the talks told Reuters that among amendments Hamas is seeking is the release of the hostages in three phases over the 60-day truce and more aid distribution in different areas. Hamas also wants guarantees the deal will lead to a permanent ceasefire, the official said.
There was no immediate response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office to the Hamas statement.
Israel has previously rejected Hamas’ conditions, instead demanding the complete disarmament of the group and its dismantling as a military and governing force, along with the return of all 58 remaining hostages.
Trump said on Friday he believed a ceasefire agreement was close after the latest proposals, and the White House said on Thursday that Israel had agreed to the terms.
Saying he had received Hamas’ response, Witkoff wrote in a posting on X: “It is totally unacceptable and only takes us backward. Hamas should accept the framework proposal we put forward as the basis for proximity talks, which we can begin immediately this coming week.”
On Saturday, the Israeli military said it had killed Mohammad Sinwar, Hamas’ Gaza chief on May 13, confirming what Netanyahu said earlier this week.
Sinwar, the younger brother of Yahya Sinwar, the group’s deceased leader and mastermind of the October 2023 attack on Israel, was the target of an Israeli strike on a hospital in southern Gaza. Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied his death.
The Israeli military, which relaunched its air and ground campaign in March following a two-month truce, said on Saturday it was continuing to hit targets in Gaza, including sniper posts and had killed what it said was the head of a Hamas weapons manufacturing site.
The campaign has cleared large areas along the boundaries of the Gaza Strip, squeezing the population of more than 2 million into an ever narrower section along the coast and around the southern city of Khan Younis.
Israel imposed a blockade on all supplies entering the enclave at the beginning of March in an effort to weaken Hamas and has found itself under increasing pressure from an international community shocked by the desperate humanitarian situation the blockade has created.
On Saturday, aid groups said dozens of World Food Program trucks carrying flour to Gaza bakeries had been hijacked by armed groups and subsequently looted by people desperate for food after weeks of mounting hunger.
“After nearly 80 days of a total blockade, communities are starving and they are no longer willing to watch food pass them by,” the WFP said in a statement.
‘A MOCKERY’
The incident was the latest in a series that has underscored the shaky security situation hampering the delivery of aid into Gaza, following the easing of a weeks-long Israeli blockade earlier this month.
The United Nations said on Friday the situation in Gaza is the worst since the start of the war 19 months ago, with the entire population facing the risk of famine despite a resumption of limited aid deliveries earlier this month.
“The aid that’s being sent now makes a mockery of the mass tragedy unfolding under our watch,” Philippe Lazzarini, head of the main U.N. relief organization for Palestinians, said in a message on X.
Israel has been allowing a limited number of trucks from the World Food Program and other international groups to bring flour to bakeries in Gaza but deliveries have been hampered by repeated incidents of looting.
A separate system, run by a US-backed group called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, has been delivering meals and food packages at three designated distribution sites.
However, aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF, which they say is not neutral, and say the amount of aid allowed in falls far short of the needs of a population at risk of famine.
Amjad Al-Shawa, head of an umbrella group representing Palestinian aid groups, said the dire situation was being exploited by armed groups which were attacking some of the aid convoys.
He said hundreds more trucks were needed and accused Israel of a “systematic policy of starvation.”
Israel denies operating a policy of starvation and says it is facilitating aid deliveries, pointing to its endorsement of the new GHF distribution centers and its consent for other aid trucks to enter Gaza.
Instead it accuses Hamas of stealing supplies intended for civilians and using them to entrench its hold on Gaza, which it had been running since 2007.
Hamas denies looting supplies and has executed a number of suspected looters.
The post Hamas Seeks Changes in US Gaza Proposal; Witkoff Calls Response ‘Unacceptable’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.