Gazans say Sinwar’s death won’t change anything

Abu Mohammed stands, his eyes red and watery. Women and young men walk on a muddy path as children run between rows of makeshift tents in the Deir al-Balah internally displaced persons camp in central Gaza.

Mohammed and others housed in makeshift displacement camps survived Israeli bombings that ravaged Gaza’s streets for more than a year, enduring catastrophic violence, constant killing and disfigurement, and crippling hunger.

While Israel this week celebrated the assassination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar – while its allies hope that Sinwar’s death will now open a possibility of peace in Gaza – Mohammed and many others remain skeptical that their daily reality.

“I don’t believe the war will end with his assassination,” Mohammed told CNN, adding that he was “saddened” to hear the news of Sinwar’s death. Israel’s most wanted man, believed to be one of the architects of the group’s October 7, 2023 attack, was killed Wednesday by the Israeli army in Rafah, southern Gaza.

Sinwar was a divisive figure among Palestinians: a hard-line activist, Sinwar was seen as a brutal force by some, a pragmatic political thinker by others, and a freedom fighter by many.

Born in a refugee camp in 1962, his family was displaced from the Palestinian village of Al-Majdal – in what is now the Israeli city of Ashkelon – Sinwar was “a symbol of the Palestinian people,” in the eyes of Mohammed and many others.

Today, many Gazans are afraid to publicly express their support for Sinwar and Hamas, for fear of being targeted by the Israeli military – which launched its siege of Gaza with the stated aim of destroying Hamas after leading the October 7 terrorist attacks and rescuing the hostages. taken that day. Others fear condemning Hamas, which controls the Palestinian enclave.

But Samah, 36, told CNN she considered Sinwar’s actions to be crimes, for which Gaza had borne the human cost.

“Sinwar was a target for Israel and he was targeted and killed. He attacked Israel and committed crimes for which we paid the price… We paid the price for horrible tragedies, with the blood of our children, our money and our homes.

She, too, said she had little hope that his death would be a turning point in the war. “The assassination of leaders does not seem to change anything. (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu wants more and more people killed. We want to live in security, peace and stability,” she said.

Sinwar’s last moments

Sinwar’s death has sparked speculation among Western allies about whether the coming weeks could mark the beginning of the end of the fighting in Gaza and the release of the remaining 101 Israeli hostages.

But Netanyahu has given no signs that he is ready to end the war. And Hamas is committed to continuing the fight.

Akram Dabbour, another displaced man in Deir al-Balah, told CNN he did not expect any change. He received the news of Sinwar’s death with “deep sadness and pain because (Sinwar) is a noble resistance fighter” – and predicted that he would soon be replaced. “Israel has become accustomed to killing. I do not believe that the war will end after his death, because a leader gives birth to leaders,” added Dabbour.

On Thursday, the Israeli military released drone footage showing Sinwar in his final moments. The edited video shows the interior of a hollowed-out building, where a man the IDF identifies as Sinwar can be seen perched alone on an armchair.

In the sequence, the character’s face is hidden by a scarf and covered in a thick layer of dust. His right arm appears injured as he turns towards the drone. He holds what the IDF described as a piece of wood, before throwing it towards the target.

The footage appeared to show Sinwar at his weakest – alone and close to defeat. But that’s not how most Palestinians see things, according to Mustafa Barghouti, an independent Palestinian doctor and politician.

“He was not hiding behind Palestinian civilians, using them as human shields, as Israeli propaganda said… He was not hiding behind Israeli prisoners or captives, as they also claimed,” Barghouti told Christiane Amanpour of CNN.

“This image will make him seem like a hero to most Palestinians,” Barghouti added, explaining that Sinwar’s apparent defiance in his final moments would be seen by Palestinians as part of a broader historical resistance, even among those who disagreed with Hamas. leader tactics.

Like Sinwar, at least 70 percent of Gaza’s residents are refugees or descendants of those uprooted by the Nakba, or “catastrophe,” according to Amnesty International, when around 700,000 Palestinians were forcibly expelled from their homes. homes during the creation of Israel. in 1948.

Decades later, these same descendants are grappling with the same reality: They cannot return to their homes in Gaza, with about 69 percent of the enclave’s buildings now destroyed or partially damaged, according to the CUNY Institute.

For Abu Fares, one of hundreds of thousands of people prevented from returning home, Sinwar’s death is just the continuation of a brutal war. “This will not stop the battle or the fighting, because the children who carried the dismembered body of their father and those who carried the dismembered body of their sister, what do you expect from them after 20 years?”

“I wish for my own death”

Sinwar’s killing comes as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza deepens and the death toll from Israeli airstrikes continues to rise.

At least 42,500 people have been killed since October 8, 2023, and another 99,546 have been injured, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. At least 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.2 million residents have been displaced, according to the UN.

Entire families were wiped out, and many neighborhoods were reduced to wastelands filled with thick pools of sewage. More than a million people in northern Gaza face imminent famine, made worse by Israeli aid restrictions, the UN warned earlier this year.

Suha Al Turk, a young woman displaced from Deir al-Balah, told CNN: “Israel claims that he (Sinwar) is one of its targets and that after his assassination the war will end. But the war will not stop… They exterminate civilians – we are the ones who experience the massacres every day.

About 70 percent of Palestinians killed by Israeli strikes are women and children, according to the Hamas-led Government Media Office (GMO). More than 17,000 children have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 8, the office said.

Israel has said its sustained military campaign in Gaza aims to root out what remains of Hamas, following Hamas-led attacks that killed 1,200 people in Israel and saw more than 250 people kidnapped, according to Israeli authorities.

Israel says it is taking steps to minimize harm to civilians, such as making phone calls and sending text messages to residents of buildings designated for the attack. For years, it has also claimed that Hamas fighters use mosques, hospitals and other civilian buildings to hide from Israeli attacks and launch attacks of their own – claims that Hamas has repeatedly denied.

But human rights agencies and many world leaders, including Israel’s allies, have repeatedly expressed concerns about Israel’s conduct of the war and the civilian toll. Groups like Amnesty International also say the warnings do not absolve Israel of its responsibilities under international humanitarian law to limit harm to civilians.

Mahmoud Jneid, also in Deir al-Balah, said the world’s attention should be focused on the suffering of civilians and not on Sinwar’s death. “Sinwar was a target. And us, the displaced? The closure of crossing points and the lack of food and drinks for children make our situation worse than (his) assassination,” he said.

“I wish Israel would assassinate me too,” Jneid said. “My brothers and my family are dead and I wish for my own death so that I can find peace. »

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