A Defeated Hamas Unaware It is Dead

"We, and countless others around the world, salute his selfless struggle for liberation of the Palestinian people."

"Martyrs live forever, and the cause for liberation of Palestine from occupation is more alive than ever."

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi

 

"We offer our deepest condolences to the oppressed and struggling Palestinian people, to our struggling brothers in Hamas, to our Arab and Islamic nation ... for the martyrdom of the leader of the Al-Aqsa Flood, the head of Hamas' political bureau, the struggling brother Yahya Sinwar..."

"We affirm our support for the Palestinians."

Hezbollah

A pro-Palestinian protester holds up a portrait of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar outside of a campaign event for Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris in New York City, U.S., August 14, 2024. REUTERS/David 'Dee' Delgado/File Photo

With the confirmation by Hamas that Yahya Sinwar is dead, eliminated in Gaza's Rafah by Israeli forces, expectations that a heavily reduced terrorist group, traumatized and uncertain about its future would no longer spurn appeals to release the estimated 100 Israelis still held hostage in Gaza, have met the stone wall of reality. Demoralized it might be to a degree, but Hamas terrorists remain committed to their ultimate goal of destroying Israel, and in the process, murder Jews wherever they can be found.

 

While the international community, including Israel's peers in democracy, and world leaders of the West continue to urge Israel to withdraw from Gaza and be satisfied with having achieved part of its resolute intent to destroy Hamas in its entirety, Hamas itself is goading Israel to continue to look for their operatives as they mingle with the civilian population and conceal themselves in still-intact, undiscovered tunnels as they practice their exhilarating flirtation with martyrdom, in emulation of their late-lamented leader.

The Hamas leadership that remains yet intact, took great pains and greater pleasure in sketching out the reality of the hostage situation to the Israeli authorities; none will be released until such time as there is agreement and a commitment from Israel to a ceasefire, a withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza leaving what is left of Hamas to get on with their business. In all likelihood the greater majority of the hostages will be in the tender care of ordinary Palestinian citizens; the fear in official Israeli circles is that in a move of vengeance for Sinwar's death, the order will be given to kill all hostages.

For Israel's part, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made it clear that the Israel Defense Forces will continue fighting until the hostages are released. The military plans to remain in Gaza with intent to prevent a weakened Hamas from rearming. Israel making clear its intentions just as Hamas digs in to its demands that Israel, upon whom Hamas thrust a malevolent savagery unparalleled but for the Holocaust, anticipates Israeli submission in fear of losing any more hostages.

 

Yahya Sinwar before death in Tal Al-Sultan, Rafah, in the Gaza Strip, in this screengrab from a video. (Israel Defence Forces/Reuters)

 

Hamas is adamant: no chance of any hostages being returned to Israel "before the end of the aggression on Gaza and the withdrawal from Gaza." Sinwar was celebrated for his dedication to the Palestinian 'cause' and his grim commitment to defeating Israel and knocking it off its geographic heritage perch to enable Hamas to proceed with its plan to prove that unmitigated lethal violence is rewarded by the fear it engenders in its recipients, leading to victory for the aggressor which then has the authority that violence brings, to control terms and conditions of 'normalcy'.

Yahya Sinwar, according to the Hamas Palestinians, was a heroic figure for not retreating, brandishing his 'weapon', "engaging and confronting the 'occupation' army at the forefront of the ranks." As the chief architect of the sadistically atrocious Hamas raid on southern Israel on October 7 of 2023 when over 1,200 Israelis were slaughtered, girls and women raped repeatedly, tortured and murdered under instructions from Sinwar, the chief architect of October 7's barbaric violence.

 

The consequences of Sinwar's exercise in horrific violence is still playing out in dead Palestinians, with vast areas of Gaza destroyed  and 90 percent of its 2.3 million people ostensibly facing deprivation and starvation, struggling with a severe shortage of food, medicine, water and fuel. Added to which the daily bombardment of rockets across the border from Lebanon into Israel has led to an Israeli offensive against Hezbollah with ground troops in southern Lebanon, and airstrikes in other areas of the country.

 

Over a million Lebanese have been displaced, and the end is not yet in sight.

 

Hamas confirmed Friday that its leader, Yahya Sinwar, was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza. The terrorist group reiterated its stance that hostages taken from Israel a year ago will not be released until there is a ceasefire in Gaza and a withdrawal of Israeli troops.  AP