Gaza Strip | After the death of its leader, Hamas refuses to release the hostages without a ceasefire

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,” while the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) called for “unity” among Palestinian factions.

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.

The American President, Joe Biden, saw this as an opportunity for “a path towards peace” in the Middle East and a “better future in Gaza, without Hamas”.

His death makes peace in the Middle East “easier”, judged the Republican candidate for the White House, Donald Trump.

In a joint statement, Mr Biden and the leaders of France, Germany and Britain stressed “the immediate need to return hostages to their families, end the war in Gaza and ensure humanitarian aid reaches civilians.”

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, for his part, presented his “condolences for the martyrdom of Yahya Sinouar” on Friday to Hamas officials he received in Istanbul.

Yahya Sinouar, 61, has led Hamas in Gaza since 2017, before being named political leader of the movement in early August following the death of Ismaïl Haniyeh, killed in Tehran on July 31 in an attack attributed to Israel.

According to the New York Times, which interviewed the forensic doctor in charge of the autopsy in Israel, the Hamas leader was first seriously wounded in the arm during an exchange of fire, then killed by a bullet in the head.

His bodyguard, Mahmoud Hamdane, was also killed, the Israeli army said Friday.

“The killings continue”

In the besieged Gaza Strip, Palestinians hesitated between hope and resignation.

“Now that Sinouar has been killed, we hope the war will end. They now no longer have any reason to continue this genocide,” says one of them, Ali Chameli.

But “the war has not stopped, and the killings continue with intensity,” judges another resident of the territory, Jemaa Abou Mendi.

In Israel, Sinwar’s death is seen by some as a sign of hope. “I feel like we’ve finished what we started,” said Dolev, 29, a resident of Tel Aviv.

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 scope 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. The civil defense of the Palestinian territory announced on the night of Friday to Saturday that 33 people had been killed and “dozens” injured in a bombing on the refugee camp located in this city.

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.

The small Palestinian territory is a veritable “hell on earth” for the million children who live there, UNICEF deplored Friday.

« 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 1^is october.

For Tehran, Yahya Sinouar remains a “source of inspiration” in the Middle East.

After a year of border firefights, Israel has been carrying out land operations in the border regions of southern Lebanon since the end of September, 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 latter claimed responsibility on Friday for attacks on northern Israel, notably on the cities of Safed and Haifa (North) and on a military base in the center of the country.

For its part, the Israeli army indicated that “around 75 projectiles were fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon” on Friday.

She added that she had carried out “targeted” raids in southern Lebanon and killed “around 60 terrorists”.

Friday evening, it said it had intercepted an “aerial target” approaching from Syria.

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.

Chloe Rouveyrolles-Bazire, Agence France-Presse