Jay Zeidman

Oct 18

 

Earlier today, Israel confirmed that Yahya Sinwar, the terrorist who orchestrated the horrific events of October 7th and took 251 innocent hostages, was killed. I write tonight with some sense of justice, similar to what many of us may have felt after learning about the death of 9/11’s terrorist mastermind, Osama Bin Laden. While this might bring closure for many, 101 hostages remain in Gaza and Israel’s multi-front war continues. It is past time to bring the hostages home, and I pray that we are watching the beginning of the end of this horrible nightmare.

Below is a synopsis of what took place today, along with immediate analysis from many of the sources we follow. Am Israel Chai.

YNet and Times of Israel journalists recount what we know so far:

• The encounter that led to the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar on Wednesday was part of the IDF’s ongoing efforts to locate and destroy tunnels in Rafah.
• Sinwar was killed after the building he was in collapsed on top of him, as well as shrapnel from two types of munitions: a Merkava Mark 4 tank shell fired by the 460th Brigade and a Matador missile made by Israeli defense contractor Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.
• The incident began around 10 a.m. when a 450th Battalion soldier spotted a suspicious figure entering and exiting a building, alerting his commander, who ordered fire in response.
• At 3 p.m., IDF forces, using a drone, identified three figures leaving the building, attempting to move from house to house.
• The 450th Battalion commander opened fire on the group, causing them to scatter.
• After the three terrorists were spotted, fired at and injured, two headed into one building and the third, who turned out to be Sinwar, went into another, the military said. The other two terrorists were apparently bodyguards of Sinwar’s and had been moving in front of him, clearing his way.
• Sinwar moved to the second floor of the building, and the IDF responded by firing a tank shell at it. As the IDF Infantry Commanders School (Bislach) unit began to sweep the building, two grenades were thrown at them—one exploded, the other did not. The troops pulled back and sent a drone, which detected an injured figure, face covered, sitting in a room and attempting to knock the drone out of the air with a stick.
• IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari confirmed in a Thursday night press conference that the military “identified him as a terrorist in a building” and did not know it was Sinwar.

• Above is a video released by the IDF of Sinwar’s final moments
• The next sweep of the building occurred at dawn, when troops discovered a body with recognizable features, leading to the identification process, which was completed in the evening.
• IDF forces discovered large amounts of Israeli cash and identifying documents on the terrorists’ bodies. Due to the presence of explosives and grenades, drones were initially used to examine the bodies.
• One of the terrorists bore a strong resemblance to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, leading troops to believe they may have killed him unintentionally, without prior intelligence.
• To confirm Sinwar’s identity, soldiers photographed the body and sent the images to the Israeli police’s forensic unit. Assistant Commissioner Aliza Raziel, head of the unit, confirmed that the teeth in the photos matched Sinwar’s dental records from his time in Israeli custody.
• “We had Sinwar’s dental data on file, and the match was clear,” Raziel said. “This was one of the most significant moments this year, allowing us to quickly provide critical information to the field.”
• Further evidence suggesting Sinwar’s death included the presence of a senior Hamas commander known to frequently accompany him. Reports from Gaza indicated the other two terrorists killed were Sinwar’s bodyguards, one of whom worked as a teacher for UNRWA and the other a high-ranking official in Hamas’ National Security Office.
• The army noted that there were no hostages present in the area where the three terrorists were killed.
• It said the firefight on Wednesday took place in the same area as the six hostages were held and killed.

[PODCAST] Call Me Back with Dan Senor: EMERGENCY EPISODE: SINWAR DEAD — with Nadav Eyal & Haviv Rettig Gur

• Yahya Sinwar is dead. To help us better understand what happened in Gaza over the past 24 hours, the reaction in Israeli society, and what is likely to happen next in Gaza and in Israel, Nadav Eyal and Haviv Rettig Gur join us for an emergency episode of the podcast.
• Link: EMERGENCY EPISODE: SINWAR DEAD

Amit Segal, Chief political analyst for Israel’s Channel 12 News and Yedioth Ahronot, posts:

Mentos, money, an AK-47, a lighter, and a UNRWA employee ID: this is what was found on the body of the arch-terrorist Yahya Sinwar.

Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Remarks

• Today, the mastermind of this day of sheer evil is no more. Yahya Sinwar is dead. He was killed in Rafah by the brave soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces. While this is not the end of the war in Gaza, it’s the beginning of the end.
• To the people of Gaza, I have a simple message: This war can end tomorrow. It can end if Hamas lays down its arms and returns our hostages. Hamas is holding 101 hostages in Gaza, who are citizens of 23 countries; citizens of Israel, but citizens of many other countries.
• And Israel will guarantee the safety of all those who return our hostages. But to those who would harm our hostages, I have another message: Israel will hunt you down and bring you to justice.
• I also have a message of hope to the peoples of the region: The axis of terror that was built by Iran is collapsing before our eyes. Nasrallah is gone. His deputy Mohsen is gone. Haniyeh is gone. Deif is gone. Sinwar is gone.
• The reign of terror that the Iranian regime has imposed on its own people and on the peoples of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen – this too will come to an end.
• Link to Video

[LISTEN] Yahya Sinwar Rests in Pieces from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies

• Cliff May discusses with his FDD colleagues Mark Dubowitz, Jonathan Schanzer, and Hussain Abdul-Hussain.
• Link: Yahya Sinwar Rests in Pieces

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant posts: “You will pursue your enemies and they will fall before you by the sword.” – Leviticus 26

• Our enemies cannot hide. We will pursue and eliminate them.

What We Are Reading

How Sinwar’s Death Could Change the War by Ghaith al-Omari and Neomi Neumann for The Washington Institute for Near East Policy

• On the political level, the remaining Hamas leadership in Gaza does not include a figure capable of succeeding Sinwar. The next leader will almost certainly come from the movement’s leadership in Doha, where the two main aspirants hold differing views on the ceasefire issue and Hamas’s regional alliances, particularly with Iran.
• Khalil al-Hayya, the number-two in Hamas behind Sinwar, was a close ally of the late leader and headed the group’s delegation in ceasefire negotiations, as well as recent reconciliation talks with the rival Fatah movement. He will likely seek to continue Sinwar’s path both in the Gaza war front and in staying close to Iran. Khaled Mashal, the other likely candidate, served previously as Hamas’s leader for two terms. His relations with Iran are practically nonexistent, and he has long tried to move Hamas away from the Iranian axis and closer to the movement’s origins in the Muslim Brotherhood.
• Whereas both Hayya and Mashal have a measure of political clout within Hamas, no current figure has the military stature of Sinwar, especially given Israel’s killing earlier this year of both Marwan Issa and Muhammad Deif.
• In the short term, Sinwar’s killing will undoubtedly create additional chaos on the ground, with possibly dire implications for the hostages. The remaining Hamas leadership will try to show that it is undeterred by launching rockets into Israel and redoubling its efforts to destabilize the West Bank, although its ability to do either may be limited. Harm to the hostages could be carried out either as an act of revenge or to impose a cost on Israel.
• The effects of Sinwar’s killing on Gaza public opinion also bear watching. The steep costs of the war have driven what appears to be growing anger at Hamas, as well as at Israel, and fear of the group is likewise persistent.
• In the longer term, Sinwar’s killing could emerge as a true game changer that opens up the possibility for political initiatives. Sinwar was seen as the main Hamas obstacle to a ceasefire deal, and his absence may reopen prospects for one.
• More broadly, if new dynamics created by Sinwar’s killing can be leveraged toward a ceasefire, this could have implications for ending the war in Lebanon. Such a shift would deprive Iran of two of its most valuable regional assets and, in doing so, diminish its pernicious influence in the region. All these developments create new potential, but the U.S. administration will need to take the initiative and grasp the opportunity.
• Link: How Sinwar’s Death Could Change the War

Sinwar Is Gone, Hamas Isn’t Far Behind by Abe Greenwald in Commentary

• Some critics of Israeli strategy claim that Israel can’t destroy Hamas. You can’t kill an ideology, they say. And it’s too hard to defeat a non-state terrorist organization. It’s a game of whack-a-mole. Well, when you whack all the moles, you win the game. And Israel has pulverized Hamas’s underground rat-maze, dismantled or hobbled its battalions, killed thousands of its fighters, choked off its smuggling routes, and taken out its leaders—the most important of these being Sinwar. Does this constitute Israeli victory? No, not yet. There’s more fighting ahead. But it’s what winning looks like. And it’s how you destroy the enemy.
• …Hamas’s remnants might find themselves without the Iranian funds they’d have used to try to reconstitute the organization in the future. The regime in Iran has spent billions of dollars on its terrorist proxies. This was a good investment for decades, enabling Tehran to project power abroad and attack Israel without Iran sticking its neck out. But the mullahs can’t be happy looking at the present state of Hamas (and increasingly of Hezbollah).
• But what about Hamas’s supporters over here in the U.S.? Are they still “exhilarated” by the October 7 attack? Do they still think that it was a “gift to Allah from the world”? That “Palestine has never been as within reach”?  Are they satisfied with what Hamas has wrought for the people of Gaza? And do they still think they’re on the winning side against Israel? Even if they now recognize Hamas’s strategic failure, they undoubtedly still supporting its aims. And they’re the kind of enemy that’s truly hard to defeat because you can’t destroy moral imbecility. On October 7, 2023, Sinwar ensured his own demise and that of his monstrous organization. But the woke jihadists of the West will live to tweet another day.
• The greatest gift of humanitarian aid ever received by the people of Gaza was Israel’s killing of Yahya Sinwar. His death, and the destruction of Hamas, don’t by any means guarantee that the Palestinians will one day be able to thrive in freedom. But so long as he was in charge, that would have remained a certain impossibility. And if Israel had heeded the Biden administration’s calls for a ceasefire, this massive aid package would never have been delivered. Take the win, Mr. President.
• Link: Sinwar Is Gone, Hamas Isn’t Far Behind

Sinwar’s Death Will Hasten the End of the War: The Hamas leader started this fight. Now Israel can finish it. By Matti Friedman with The Free Press

• For me, this moment evokes another from almost exactly 51 years ago, on October 15, 1973. That’s when the Israeli army, after ten days of catastrophe and retreat following a surprise attack by Egypt and Syria in the Yom Kippur War, regrouped and carried out a daring strike across the Suez Canal, changing the course of events. The crossing of the canal didn’t mean the war was won yet. But it was the moment Israel regained the initiative.
• Will Israel seize this moment? It now has a chance to begin to orchestrate the end of the Gaza operation after a year of bloodshed; to allow the people of Gaza to start rebuilding what Sinwar, his henchmen, and their deluded supporters have destroyed; and to return the 100 hostages still held by Hamas, dozens of whom are thought to be alive.
• The killing of Sinwar shows that Israel’s patience in prosecuting this war—despite the high price in the lives of our soldiers, and the constant fear of civilians under rocket fire from a half-dozen enemies—is yielding results. And so, it must be said, is Israel’s attitude toward the often hysterical and misguided advice of its allies, who have repeatedly sought to force a ceasefire that would leave Hamas and Hezbollah on their feet. We’ve heard repeatedly, from Western officials who have never fought wars, that military force is counterproductive and that Hamas is an “idea” that can’t be defeated. It was just this spring, amid a broad international pressure campaign to keep the Israeli army out of Rafah, that Vice President Kamala Harris said a major incursion into Rafah would be a “huge mistake.”
• Rafah is not only the lifeline of Hamas weapons from Egypt, and the city where Israeli soldiers uncovered the bodies of six hostages in a dank tunnel at the end of August. (According to reports Thursday in the Israeli press, the six, including the American citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin, may have served as Sinwar’s personal human shields before they were murdered.) It’s also the city where the elusive Sinwar himself was just found.
• It may indeed be impossible to defeat ideas. But the tank crewmen who just settled Israel’s account with this terrorist mastermind have illustrated why it’s sometimes necessary to kill the monsters who act on them.
• Link: Sinwar’s Death Will Hasten the End of the War

[WARNING: EXTREMELY GRAPHIC IMAGES/VIDEOS]

I have decided to share some of these graphic videos and images that I saw on social media today which were captured and distributed by the Israeli military. Please click these links at your own discretion.

• Footage showing the body of Yahya Sinwar
• Israeli soldiers surrounding the body of Hamas Leader Yahya Sinwar, following its discovery earlier in Southern Gaza.
• Another image of Sinwar after being eliminated