Israel carried out strikes on the Gaza Strip on Friday after reaffirming its goal of crushing Hamas and dealing a severe blow to the Palestinian Islamist movement by killing its leader, Yahya Sinouar.
At war on a double front, Israel announced Thursday the death of Yahya Sinouar, killed the day before in an operation by its soldiers in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, while its offensive against Hezbollah continues in Lebanon, ally of Hamas and also supported by Iran.
The death of the Hamas leader, considered the architect of the unprecedented attack on October 7, 2023 in Israel, marks “the beginning of the end” of the war in Gaza, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The army chief of staff, General Herzi Halevi, assured that the war “would not stop” before the capture of all the perpetrators of the attack and the return of “all the hostages” held in Gaza, the two objectives declared by Israel of its offensive in the Palestinian territory. Hamas has not confirmed the death.
Read also | Israeli army reportedly kills Hamas leader Yahya Sinouar
Yahya Sinouar, a 61-year-old radical activist, has led Hamas in Gaza since 2017, before being named political leader of the movement in early August after the death of Ismaïl Haniyeh, killed in Tehran on July 31 in an attack attributed to Israel.
American President Joe Biden hailed, after the announcement of his death, a “good day for Israel, the United States and the world”.
Mr. Biden said he called Mr. Netanyahu to congratulate him on the death of the Hamas leader, adding that he “hoped” to achieve a cease-fire in Gaza.
Kamala Harris, Democratic candidate for the White House, also considered that his death offered “the opportunity” to “end” the war in Gaza.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the death of the Hamas leader represented an “opportunity” to be seized to end military operations.
During their telephone interview, MM. Netanyahu and Biden assured that it was “an opportunity to promote the release of the hostages” and that they would “cooperate” to achieve this.
The Families Forum, the main association of relatives of hostages in Israel, “urged us to take advantage of this major breakthrough to ensure the return” of the last captives.
Read also | Israeli army reportedly kills Hamas leader Yahya Sinouar
In front of a Tel Aviv morgue, where Sinouar’s body arrived for “additional examinations” according to the police, several people danced and sang, according to AFP images. Among them, Hemda, an Israeli, said she was “happy”.
This announcement comes in an explosive context in the Middle East, where Israel has been shelling Hezbollah positions in Lebanon since September 23.
After a year of border fire exchanges, Israel shifted the bulk of its military operations to Lebanon and launched a ground offensive in southern Lebanon on September 30 against the Lebanese Islamist movement.
Israel says it wants to neutralize Hezbollah on the border to allow the return to the north of its territory of some 60,000 people displaced over the past year by its rocket attacks.
Thursday evening, Hezbollah announced it was moving “up a gear” in its war with Israel, claiming to have used precision-guided missiles for the first time to target Israeli soldiers.
The official Lebanese news agency Ani on Friday reported Israeli raids on villages in southern Lebanon overnight, one of which “destroyed the ancient mosque” of Majdel Selm, near the border.
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for firing “a large salvo of rockets” on northern Israel on Friday and announced during the night that it had targeted Israeli soldiers near two border villages.
At least 1,418 people have been killed in Lebanon since September 23, according to an AFP count based on official data. The UN has recorded nearly 700,000 displaced people.
In the Gaza Strip, an AFP journalist and Civil Defense reported several airstrikes overnight.
Three children were killed in northern Gaza, according to Civil Defense, while a drone strike killed two Palestinians in the same region.
The army announced that it would continue its operations in Jabalia, in the north of the territory, which it has surrounded and shelled since October 6, claiming that Hamas is trying to reconstitute its forces there.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has pointed to a “real risk” of famine in the besieged Palestinian territory, accusing “certain members of the Israeli government” of using it “a weapon of war”.
Read also | Four Israeli soldiers killed in Hezbollah attack on military base
At least 42,438 Palestinians were killed, mostly civilians, in the Israeli offensive in Gaza, according to data from the Hamas government’s Health Ministry, deemed reliable by the UN.
Iran assured that the death of Yahya Sinouar would “strengthen the spirit of resistance” with a view to the “liberation” of the occupied territories. “He will become a model for youth,” Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York wrote on the social network X, assuring that “the resistance would continue.”
Iran has threatened to “painfully” attack Israel if it hits targets “in Iran or in the region,” in response to Tehran’s October 1 missile attack on Israeli territory that Israel promised to respond.
Challenge (with AFP)
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