Yahya Sinwar, leader of Hamas, killed by Israeli forces

Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, has been killed by Israeli soldiers in southern Gaza, Israel has confirmed.

Sinwar had led the armed group in Gaza since 2017 and was described by Israel, the US and UK as the mastermind behind the 7 October attacks - when Hamas gunmen killed around 1,200 people in Israel and took 251 hostages.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, said the killing of the Hamas chief marked not the end but the "beginning of the end" of the year-long war in Gaza.

The Israeli military said Sinwar was among three militants killed on Wednesday in Rafah in the south of the territory.

It added that there were no signs of hostages at the site. It has previously been claimed that Sinwar would travel with Israeli hostages as a means of protection.

Three gunmen were sighted by Israeli soldiers running from house to house, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Daniel Hagari said. Once fired upon, they split up and Sinwar entered a building alone.

He was spotted sitting in a chair by a drone - which he threw a piece of wood at, Hagari added. Soldiers entered the building and found Sinwar with a vest, a gun and 40,000 shekels (£8,240), he said.

Lt Col Hertzi Halevi, chief of the IDF, said: "We said we would get to him and we did get to him. The world is now better off without him."

Confirmation of his death was delayed by several hours, as Israel compared dental records and fingerprints. Israel will have had his genetic data on file from the decades he spent in an Israeli prison.

Earlier, graphic images circulating online appeared to show a dead body resembling Sinwar lying in rubble with a severe head injury.

The IDF said at the time it was possible he had been killed - but did not want to prematurely confirm the death of a man it had been pursuing for over a year.

Netanyahu hailed the killing of Sinwar, saying: "While this is not the end of the war in Gaza, it's the beginning of the end."

He said the conflict could end "tomorrow" if Hamas lays down its arms and returns the remaining hostages held in Gaza.

Earlier, addressing the families of the hostages, Netanyahu said Israel would "continue with all our might until we bring every one of your loved ones home, as they are our loved ones too".

Netanyahu told Gazans that Sinwar "destroyed your lives".

"Hamas will no longer control Gaza," he said. "This is the beginning of the day after Hamas, and it is an opportunity for you, the residents of Gaza, to finally free yourselves from its tyranny."

Sinwar's killing comes after Hamas's political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in the Iranian capital, Tehran, in July. Sinwar was subsequently named as Hamas's overall leader, assuming Haniyeh's role as well.

Sinwar - who was widely known as Abu Ibrahim - was born in Khan Younis in southern Gaza in 1962. He was first arrested by Israel aged 19 for "Islamic activities".

Aged 25, in the late 1980s, he founded the Hamas security service al-Majd, which punished those accused of so-called morality offences and those suspected of collaborating with Israel.

In 1988, he was sentenced to four life terms in prison in Israel - but was among the 1,027 prisoners released in exchange for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held captive by Hamas in Gaza for over five years, in 2011.

Israel's foreign minister, Israel Katz, said Sinwar's killing was a "significant military and moral achievement".

Yoav Gallant, the defence minister, said Sinwar "joins a long series of eliminations".

"Sinwar died while beaten, persecuted and on the run - he didn’t die as a commander, but as someone who only cared for himself.

"This is a clear message to all of our enemies."

Hamas has yet to comment on Sinwar's killing, and there is no indication of who will take his place.

Iran backs Hamas with funding, weapons and training. The country's mission to the UN posted on X that the killing of Sinwar would lead to the strengthening of "the spirit of resistance".

"He will become a model for the youth and children who will carry forward his path toward the liberation of Palestine," the mission said.

US President Joe Biden congratulated Netanyahu in a phone call with the Israeli leader, saying it was "a good day for Israel, for the United States and for the world".

He added that the death of Sinwar proved "once again that no terrorists anywhere in the world can escape justice".

Former CIA director David Petraeus told BBC Radio 4 that Sinwar's death was "bigger" than Osama Bin Laden's in 2012 - "both hugely symbolic... but also hugely operational" as Sinwar was the overall leader of Hamas.

Israel's stated aim for entering Gaza in the wake of the 7 October attack was to destroy Hamas.

Sir John Sawers, who headed up the UK's foreign intelligence service MI6 from 2009 to 2014, said Netanyahu would now want to "press home" his advantage.

He told BBC Radio 4's World Tonight programme: "Netanyahu at the moment feels he has a real advantage over not just Hamas but Hezbollah and Iran itself is on the back foot.

"And I think his instinct will be to press home that advantage."

Sir John said he suspected the Israeli PM would seek to achieve most of the country's military goals before the next US president is inaugurated in January.

Britain's prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, said the UK would "not mourn" Sinwar's death and called for the release of all hostages held by Hamas and a goal of "long-term, sustainable peace in the Middle East".

French President Emmanuel Macron said the death was an "opportunity" to bring the conflict in the Middle East to an end. However, Giorgia Meloni, Italy's prime minister, said that it opened a "new phase" in the war.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says nearly 42,500 have been killed so far and more than 99,000 injured in the conflict. It does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

Some 101 hostages are thought to still be in Gaza. The families of the seven American hostages said in a joint statement that "all parties must immediately seize this opportunity" to bring them home "before it is too late".

In his remarks, Netanyahu admitted that the war was "difficult and it is costing us dearly", but added: "Today we made clear once again what happens to those who harm us."

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czj9zzgvjrno

One year of Israel’s war on Gaza: Key moments since October 7

Despite thousands of deaths in the last year in Gaza, Israel’s war has expanded to other fronts in the region.

For a full year, horrific scenes have come out of Gaza as Israel’s war on civilians in the besieged enclave continues.

The war began on the same day as and in alleged retaliation for an offensive on southern Israel launched by Hamas’s armed wing and other Palestinian resistance groups.

Israel has killed more women and children in Gaza over the past year than in any other conflict in the past two decades, Oxfam found last week.

In March, the United Nations said Israel had killed more children there in the preceding months than in four years of conflict worldwide.

Despite being called out on its atrocities, Israel has widened its war, attacking Lebanon and bombing Syria and Yemen.

Here’s a look back at 10 key moments of the past year:

October 7, 2023 – Hamas’ operation in Israel

Fighters aligned with Hamas and other Palestinian resistance groups broke through the barrier around the Gaza Strip for an operation in Israel, killing 1,139 people and capturing about 250.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s intelligence community seemed humiliated.

Traumatised Israelis rallied behind the government to support retribution on the entire population of Gaza, hoping to retrieve the captives.

One year later, Israel has killed at least 41,870 people in Gaza, though the actual figure is presumed much higher.

Thousands more are buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings or unaccounted for, and still thousands of others are likely to die from continuing bombing and conditions created by Israel’s war.

October 7, 2023 – Israel’s retaliation

In the afternoon, Israel responded by hitting Gaza with air attacks. A few hundred were killed in the first hours as Israel claimed it would “eradicate Hamas”.

The war on every human being in Gaza has continued since then.

October 8, 2023 – Hezbollah joins the fight

After 24 hours, Hezbollah began launching rockets, announcing its support of the people of Gaza and that it would stop when a ceasefire was announced.

It first hit Shebaa Farms, an area historically disputed between Syria and Lebanon but currently occupied by Israel.

For 11 months, Hezbollah and some of its allies fired rockets, predominantly at Israeli military sites.

For every rocket launched from Lebanon, Israel responded with at least five.

Tens of thousands were displaced from each side of the border.

Much of Lebanon’s south was destroyed in what experts say was an attempt to create a buffer zone.

October 17, 2023 – Al-Ahli Hospital

A huge blast in Gaza’s al-Ahli Arab Hospital – which was packed with displaced Palestinians – killed nearly 500 people.

Many of those killed were sheltering from relentless Israeli bombing.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said an Israeli air raid caused the blast.

Israel said it was a misfired rocket launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) armed group.

An Al Jazeera investigation found that Israel seemed to have misinterpreted evidence to build a story that exonerated it.

This blast would be the tip of the iceberg: Israel continued, attacking Gaza’s healthcare facilities and workers over the coming year.

Most of Gaza’s hospitals no longer function, and its healthcare system has been reeling for months.

November 19, 2023 – The Houthis’ first attack

The Houthis, Hamas allies who control parts of Yemen including its capital Sanaa, launched their first attack in the Red Sea on November 19.

They hijacked a cargo ship, the Galaxy Leader, reportedly partly owned by an Israeli businessman.

Some 25 people were on board and have since been held as captives by the Houthis.

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the seizure was a response to the “heinous acts against our Palestinian brothers in Gaza and the West Bank”.

Capturing the Galaxy Leader started a Houthi campaign of missile and drone attacks against shipping.

The Houthis have since launched about 130 attacks on what they say are Israeli-linked vessels in one of the world’s most important trade routes.

November 24 to December 1, 2023 – Temporary ceasefire

In a year of war on Gaza, there has been one pause in fighting – a four-day ceasefire mediated by Qatar which was renewed twice and held from November 24 to December 1.

Fighting paused and humanitarian aid was allowed to enter Gaza as Hamas released captives in exchange for Israel releasing Palestinian prisoners.

Hamas agreed to release 50 women and children out of the 237 October 7 captives.

Meanwhile, Israel agreed to release 150 Palestinian women and children from its prisons.

After seven days, the truce ultimately expired. Ceasefire talks have since been in an impasse.

The UN humanitarian office, OCHA, reported that despite the truce, Israeli forces shot and killed two Palestinians in Gaza on November 29 and shelled people on November 30.

January 12, 2024 – Yemen air attacks

On January 12, 2024, United States and British warplanes began bombing Yemen in response to the Houthis’ attacks on Red Sea traffic.

While five fighters were reportedly killed, the attacks failed to stop the Houthis’ military activities against vessels in the Red Sea.

The Houthis’ claim of their attacks being in support of the people of Gaza has turned out to be incredibly popular in Yemen, as the group has reportedly recruited and trained about 200,000 new fighters since October 2023.

May 6, 2024 – Invading Rafah

Before this invasion, Rafah was an important refuge for some 1.4 million Palestinians huddled there, fleeing Israeli bombardment.

Despite its density, Israel had been threatening its invasion for months, ignoring the international community that viewed it as a “red line”.

Israel invaded Rafah on May 6, defying international opinion and promising a “limited” operation against Hamas fighters. However, months later, the southern Gaza city remains under attack.

The offensive also shut Rafah’s border crossing with Egypt, an important point of entry for aid and also the point of exit for those fleeing the war.

In the last week of May, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to “immediately” halt its military assault on Rafah, but that did not happen.

July 13, 2024 – The al-Mawasi massacre

Israel killed at least 90 Palestinians and wounded hundreds in attacks on al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis.

Israeli warplanes targeted displaced people’s tents and a water distillation unit in an area that a Gaza civil defence spokesperson said Israel had designated a “safe zone”.

The attack was one of many massacres Israel committed in Gaza in the last year. Others were:

• Killing more than 100 people at the al-Tabin School in Gaza City on August 10.

• Killing 274 Palestinians at the Nuseirat refugee camp on June 8.

• Killing 45 people on May 27 in a refugee camp in the al-Mawasi area of Rafah, an attack known as the “Tent Massacre”.

• Killing 400 people in its March 18 to April 1 siege on al-Shifa Medical Complex.

• Killing 118 people standing in line waiting for humanitarian aid at Gaza City’s Nabulsi Roundabout on February 29 in the “Flour Massacre”.

September 17, 2024 – Day of death in Lebanon, official widening of the war

On this day, thousands of pagers exploded in Lebanon. A day later, thousands of walkie-talkie radios also exploded.

These attacks – blamed on Israel – killed hundreds.

On September 23, Israel attacked Lebanon directly, in the south, the Bekaa Valley in the east, and Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahiyeh, killing at least 550 people.

Then on September 27, Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah was assassinated in an attack on Dahiyeh so big it flattened several apartment buildings.

Israel reportedly used 80 bombs, killing at least six people and wounding 90.

Nasrallah’s assassination was quickly followed by Israeli demands that people leave large swaths of Dahiyeh.

Lebanon’s government now says as many as 1.2 million people may be displaced.

Israel has killed more than 2,000 people in Lebanon since the start of its war on Gaza, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

It killed most of them in the last three weeks.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/10/7/one-year-of-israels-war-on-gaza-a-simple-guide

Biden ultimatum to Netanyahu: protect Gaza civilians, or else

WASHINGTON, April 4 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden effectively gave Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu an ultimatum on Thursday: protect Palestinian civilians and foreign aid workers in Gaza or Washington could rein in support for Israel in its war against Hamas militants.

The message, after months of U.S. calls for Israel to change its military tactics that have killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, followed an Israeli attack that killed seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid workers and triggered global outrage.

Israel admits the strike was a mistake.

The White House did not say exactly what steps it wanted Netanyahu to take, nor what it would do if he failed to take them. But analysts said the implicit threat was to slow U.S. arms transfers to Israel or to temper U.S. support at the U.N.

"This is as close to a 'come to Jesus' moment as you can get," said analyst Steven Cook of the Council on Foreign Relations think tank, referring to Biden's comment last month that he and Netanyahu were heading for such a turning point.

Dennis Ross, a veteran U.S. diplomat now at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy said: "The president, in effect, is saying meet these humanitarian needs or I will have no choice but to condition (military) assistance."

Biden, up for re-election in November, has struggled to balance pressure to rein in Netanyahu from progressive Democrats dismayed at the Palestinian civilian death toll against the risk that may alienate mostly pro-Israel independent voters. He has so far resisted setting conditions on arms transfers.

The war began after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies, prompting an Israeli invasion that has laid waste to much of the densely populated territory and displaced most of its 2.3 million people.

More than 33,000 Palestinians have died, according to the health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza, of which most were women and children. Israel accuses Hamas of using civilians as human shields.

Describing their call, the White House said Biden called for Israel "to announce and implement a series of specific, concrete, and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers.

"He made clear that U.S. policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel's immediate action on these steps," the White House added in a statement.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was more blunt.

"Look, I'll just say this: if we don't see the changes that we need to see, there will be changes in our policy."

On Thursday evening, just hours after the call, the Israeli government announced several steps to increase aid flows to Gaza, including opening the Ashdod port and the Erez crossing into northern Gaza and increasing aid deliveries from Jordan. It was not clear if the steps would be enough to satisfy U.S. demands.

TURNING POINT

The turning point for Biden, an ardent supporter of Israel, was Monday's deadly Israeli attack on the workers from celebrity chef Jose Andres' WCK charity group.

It came as the Biden administration has been stepping up pressure on Israel to consider alternatives to a threatened ground offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, the last relatively safe haven for civilians in the coastal enclave.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source familiar with the talks said the 30-minute call was at times tense, with Biden spelling out his concerns and Netanyahu defending his approach on Gaza.

A senior White House official described the conversation as "very direct, very straightforward," saying it included Vice President Kamala Harris, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Blinken.

As to what the United States expects, the official said: "We need a comprehensive plan on them doing a much better job here. They can’t be killing humanitarian aid workers and civilians."

While Biden has long avoided curtailing U.S. support for Israel, he may finally have reached his limit.

"There was always going to be a point at which the Biden administration felt that the domestic and international cost of supporting Israel's campaign in Gaza outweighed the benefit of what Israel was able to achieve on the ground," said Mike Singh, a former National Security Council official on the Middle East.

"What is remarkable is not that this is happening but that it took so long."

Singh, now at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said if Israel did not meet Biden's conditions, the likeliest step was the U.S. negotiating a U.N. Security Council resolution like the one that ended the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah conflict.

"Placing conditions on arms transfers is more fraught politically, would likely face stiff opposition on (Capitol) Hill, and could leave Israel vulnerable to attack by Hezbollah or other Iranian proxies," he added.

Still, Biden may have telegraphed his thinking last month when, after saying a Rafah invasion would be a "red line," he said he would never cut off "all weapons so that they don’t have the Iron Dome (missile defense system) to protect them."

He did not explicitly make such assurances about offensive weapons, fueling speculation he could impose conditions on such arms transfers to Israel, which relies heavily on U.S. arms.

Jonathan Panikoff, a former deputy national intelligence officer on the Middle East, said Biden was unlikely to take drastic action upending U.S.-Israeli ties, such as withholding big-ticket weapons or completely abandoning Israel at the U.N.

But he could put conditions on smaller military items and take further measures against extremist Jewish settlers involved in attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

"Biden's frustration with how the war is being conducted, and with Prime Minister Netanyahu himself, has reached an apex," Panikoff said.

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/biden-ultimatum-netanyahu-protect-gaza-civilians-or-else-2024-04-05/

Israel said to offer two-month pause in Gaza fighting for staged release of hostages

Report says proposal does not heed demand by Hamas to end war but appears to go further than past Israeli offers, including significant reduction in IDF ops once fighting resumes

Israel has reportedly submitted a proposal through Qatari and Egyptian mediators that would see it agree to pause its military offensive against Hamas for as long as two months, in exchange for a phased release of the remaining 136 hostages in Gaza.

The proposal does not heed the Hamas demand for Israel to end the war completely, but does appear to go further than Israel has gone in previous offers, according to the Axios news site, which cited two Israeli officials.

The offer was publicized as White House Middle East czar Brett McGurk was in the region for meetings with Egyptian and Qatari counterparts aimed at advancing a hostage deal, a US official told The Times of Israel.

Israel is now waiting for Hamas’s response to the new proposal and is cautiously optimistic about the chance for progress in the coming days, the Israeli officials said to Axios.

The Israeli proposal reported by the news site would see the remaining children, women, men over the age of 60 and critically ill hostages released during the first stage. Subsequent stages would see female soldiers and men under the age of 60 who are not soldiers, followed by male soldiers and the bodies of hostages.

The Israeli offer states that Israel and Hamas would agree in advance as to how many security prisoners would be released by Jerusalem in each stage, before holding separate negotiations on the names of these convicts.

The offer would also include a withdrawal of Israeli forces from the main population centers in the Gaza Strip and the gradual return of Palestinians to the enclave’s north, from which they were ordered to evacuate.

The offer stipulates that Israel will not agree to end the war completely, nor release all 6,000 Palestinian security prisoners, but Israeli officials told Axios that they were willing to release a significant number.

If implemented, IDF operations in Gaza would be significantly smaller in scope after the pause concludes, Axios reported.

The offer is relatively similar to ones that have reportedly been pressed since the seven-day truce ended nearly two months ago. Hamas has insisted that it will not agree to release any hostages unless the fighting in Gaza ceases completely — a non-starter for Israel, as it would leave those who orchestrated the October 7 massacre in power, and with parts of the Hamas war machine intact.

The report followed a meeting Monday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held with the families of hostages. He told them that “contrary to what has been said, there is no real Hamas proposal,” according to a statement released by his office.

“I tell you this as clearly as I can, because there are so many untrue [claims] that must be torturing you,” the statement quoted Netanyahu as saying.

“On the other hand, we have an [Israel] initiative, and I will not elaborate,” Netanyahu added.

Channel 12 later published a recording from the meeting, in which Netanyahu could be heard saying: “There is a proposal of mine, which I also passed in the war cabinet. We conveyed it and now there is, as they say, a tug of war.

“I can’t elaborate here, but our proposal is something we have passed on to the mediators.”

More at https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-said-to-offer-two-month-pause-in-gaza-fighting-for-staged-release-of-hostages/

Videos of the port of Gaza from before the Israeli assault on the strip and after show the scale of destruction inflicted on the besieged strip.

Nearly 100,000 buildings have been destroyed or damaged in Gaza since the start of Israel's assault on 7 October.

Israeli Minister Amichai Eliyahu suggested that using a nuclear weapon on Gaza is "an option" and argued that there are no non-combatants in Gaza. He also stated that providing humanitarian aid to Gaza would be considered a failure. Additionally, he expressed the view that Palestinians could relocate to other places, such as Ireland or deserts, and stated that the Gaza Strip has no right to exist.

Israeli war planes thoroughly bombard Gaza before its ground forces enter for the main assault

Scenes from the massacre in the Al-Nasr neighborhood in Gaza just moments ago

Seems like Gaza has been shut out from the outside world....

Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank have distributed threatening leaflets on cars and left bloodied dolls at schools, warning Palestinians to leave or be killed.

"By God, we will descend upon your heads with a great catastrophe soon. You have the last chance to escape to Jordan in an organised manner," said one leaflet circulated on Friday in the West Bank.

"After that, we will destroy every enemy and forcefully expel you from our holy land. We are coming."

The leaflet also warned of a new "major Nakba", referencing the 1948 displacement of 750,000 Palestinians from their homeland.

In the occupied Al-Ma'rajat area near Jericho, dolls covered in red paint, ostensibly to look like blood and scare young students, were left at the entrance of a school after settlers vandalised it.

Before Hamas's suprise attack on 7 October, settlers harassed and assaulted Palestinians on a daily basis under the protection of the Israeli army, acts that have escalated in the past 20 days.

Local journalist Abdel Qader Aql told Middle East Eye that settlers are much more active and seem to be couching their attacks as revenge for Hamas's assault.

“This week alone, there were more than 10 attacks on farmers, threats, shouting, intimidation and expulsion of them from their land," he said.

One farmer was injured after settlers hit his head with a baton. "He fainted, and when he woke up, he found the settlement guard pointing a knife at him,” Aql said.

In Al-Ma'rajat area, where settlers attacked the Arab Al-Kaabna School and left the bloodied dolls, human rights defenders say settlers aim to displace residents and seize their lands.

On Thursday, Hassan Malihat from the Al-Baidar Organization for Defending Bedouin Rights told MEE that settlers threw stones at the residents’ homes in this community where 1,200 Palestinians live, and seized their livestock.

“Attacks on the Kaabna Arabs are repeated, and they filed complaints with the Israeli police to no avail," he said.

People in Gaza are dying only from bombs and strikes. Soon, many more will die from the consequences of a siege imposed on the Gaza Strip.

• Basic services are crumbling.

• Medicine is running out.

• Food and water are running out.

• The streets of Gaza have started overflowing with sewage.

"We are exhausted, enough."

Afaf Ahmed, sent a voice note telling the world what the situation is like in the Gaza Strip for the 2.2 million people living under continuous Israeli bombardment.

😥😥😥