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October 18, 2024 – 7:27 p.m.
(Keystone-ATS) Hamas said Friday that hostages held in the Gaza Strip would not be released until Israel ends its offensive, despite the death of its leader, Yahya Sinouar, which dealt a severe blow to the Palestinian Islamist movement .
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 the south of the Gaza Strip, while its offensive against Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, continues in Lebanon and also supported by Iran.
Hamas, in power in Gaza since 2007 and very weakened after more than a year of war, confirmed on Friday the death of its leader, considered the architect of the unprecedented attack of October 7, 2023 against Israel.
Hamas affirmed that this death would “strengthen” the movement and that the hostages held in the Palestinian territory would not be released before “the aggression against Gaza stops”.
Its military wing said the fight would continue “until the liberation of Palestine”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared the day before that the death of Yahya Sinouar marked “the beginning of the end” of the war in Gaza, and several foreign leaders expressed hope that it would pave the way towards a cease. -fire.
Hopes
American President Joe Biden saw this on Friday as an opportunity for “a path to peace” in the Middle East and a “better future in Gaza, without Hamas”.
With this death “the prospect opens” of a ceasefire in Gaza and that of an “agreement on the release of the hostages”, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also hoped, receiving Mr. Biden at Berlin.
But the chief of staff of the Israeli army, 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 » retained in Gaza, the two objectives declared by Israel of its offensive in the Palestinian territory.
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.
“The killings continue”
In the besieged Gaza Strip, Palestinians interviewed by AFP hesitated between hope and resignation.
“Now that Sinouar has been killed, we hope the war will end. They now have no reason to continue this genocide,” remarked one of them.
Yet another resident of the territory underlines that “the war has not stopped, and the killings continue with intensity”.
In Israel, the Families Forum, the main association of hostage relatives, “urged us to take advantage of this major breakthrough to ensure the return” of the last captives.
Of the 251 people kidnapped on October 7, 2023, 97 are still hostages in Gaza, 34 of whom were declared dead by the army.
This attack resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people in Israel, mainly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official figures, including hostages who died in captivity.
After the death of Yahya Sinouar, several analysts noted that the significance of this event remained uncertain. Although “considerably weakened”, Hamas “is not going to disappear just like that”, deciphers Michael Horowitz, expert for the security consulting firm Le Beck.
“Its influence remains major over Gaza, particularly through the control of humanitarian aid,” adds region specialist David Khalfa.
On Friday, the Israeli army announced that it was continuing its operations in Jabalia, in the north of the Gaza Strip.
An AFP journalist and Civil Defense reported several airstrikes, one of which killed three children in northern Gaza.
At least 42,500 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed so far in the Israeli offensive in Gaza, according to data from the Hamas government’s Health Ministry, deemed reliable by the UN.
« Source d’inspiration »
The death of Yahya Sinouar comes in an explosive context in the Middle East, where Israel entered war at the end of September against Hezbollah and promised to respond to the missile attack launched by Iran against its territory on October 1.
For Tehran, Yahya Sinouar remains a “source of inspiration” in the Middle East. “Gaza and the Palestinian cause will triumph regardless of the scale of the sacrifices,” responded the Houthi rebels in Yemen, while Hezbollah affirmed that it would continue to “support” the Palestinians.
After a year of border firefights, Israel has been carrying out land operations in the border regions of southern Lebanon since September 30, supported by a campaign of airstrikes.
Israel says it wants to allow the return to the north of its territory of some 60,000 people displaced over the past year by Hezbollah’s incessant rocket fire.
The army announced Friday that new reinforcements were being mobilized in this region.
Thursday evening, the Lebanese Islamist movement announced that 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 agency Ani reported on Friday Israeli raids on villages in southern Lebanon, one of which “destroyed the ancient mosque” of Majdel Selm, near the border.
Hezbollah claimed Friday attacks on northern Israel and against Israeli soldiers near two border villages and in the town of Safed (north).
At least 1,418 people have been killed in Lebanon since the start of massive Israeli bombings against Hezbollah on September 23, according to an AFP count based on official data.
The UN has recorded around 700,000 displaced people.
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