Gaza Genocideupdated 1h ago2 min read
Israeli Forces Kill Yahia Sinwar; Hamas Reinvents Leadership as Gaza Remains Without Truce
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Israeli forces killed Hamas leader Yahia Sinwar two years ago. Hamas reorganizes its leadership after Sinwar's death.
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Sinwar dies, Hamas adapts
Israeli forces killed Yahia Sinwar on October 16, 2024 south of Gaza, and Hamas confirmed his death two days later, marking what El Mundo described as a turning point in the war against Israel. Sinwar was considered one of the architects of the October 7, 2023 attack, the deadliest in Israel’s history, and Sinwar assumed the political leadership of the entire movement during the war. Hamas has boasted of consisting of a series of cells that do not depend on a single leader, and the group has had to reinvent itself without Sinwar.
Hamas appointed Jalil al-Hayya, an important Hamas figure in exile, after a long period without a single chief, and it added that Al-Hayya survived an Israeli attack last year in the neighborhood where group leaders resided in Doha, though he lost one of his sons. The ceasefire declared a year ago has stalled for months, with continued Israeli bombings that have killed more than 1,500 people in Gaza in the last twelve months.
IDF actions and Gaza
The IDF and Shin Bet announced they killed two terrorists on Wednesday for alleged involvement in the smuggling of weapons and other military assets into Gaza, naming Basel Nabil Abd Al-Rahman Kashta and Ahmad Raja Al-Shaer. The joint statement described the strikes in Khan Yunis as eliminating "an immediate threat to Israeli civilians and IDF troops operating in the Yellow Line area," and it said the IDF would focus on limiting Hamas's military build-up and its financing capabilities. Combat Engineers sealed and dismantled an underground tunnel route about 1.5 kilometers long that crossed the Yellow Line area in the Gaza Strip, and it said the tunnel contained rooms intended for use by Hamas terrorists.
Israel has expanded its control over the territory, deploying its forces in 60% of the Strip, and it quoted Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar describing Hamas’s initiative as a “trick.” El Mundo added that two million Gazans are concentrated in an increasingly narrow coastal strip, and it said many families have had to move up to
Letters, recruitment, and stakes
Ibrahim Sinwar wrote about killing Jewish people in letters to his father, and the letter said, "I wish I could grow up, hold the Kalashnikov and shoot the Jews, Dad." The letters were discovered shortly after Sinwar’s death in October 2024, and the IDF has now shared the contents with The Telegraph. An IDF official said the letters showed the impact that the “values of hatred and violence propagated by Hamas have on the younger generation in the Gaza Strip”.
“I wish I could grow up, hold the Kalashnikov and shoot the Jews, Dad.”
Ahmad Mansour told The Telegraph: “This is not only consistent with Hamas’s methods of raising children, but is also deeply rooted in parts of Palestinian society, particularly in the Gaza Strip.” On a recent visit to Gaza the IDF told The Telegraph that Hamas had been significantly weakened but was still able to recruit people, including minors, and a high-ranking military official said, "We know they are rearming, regrouping and recruiting new members."