In Israeli footage of the final minutes of Hamas leader’s life, some see a symbol of defiance

Houthi supporters hold up a poster of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, killed by Israeli troops in Gaza, during an anti-Israel rally in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, Oct. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)

The latest glimpse of the Hamas leader was brutal and raw, showing him wounded and cornered while sitting in a bombed Palestinian house and facing the Israeli drone filming him, throwing a stick at him.

For Israel, the scene was one of victory, showing Yahya Sinwar, the architect of October 7, broken and defeated.

But many in the Arab and Muslim world – whether supporters of Hamas or not – saw something different in the grainy images: a rebel martyr who died fighting to the end.

Excerpts of the footage released by the drone went viral on social media, along with quotes from Sinwar’s speeches in which he said he would rather die on the battlefield. An oil painting depicting a masked Sinwar sitting proudly on an armchair has been widely shared, apparently inspired by the last image of him alive.

“By broadcasting the last minutes of Yahya Sinwar’s life, the occupation made his life longer than that of his killers,” Osama Gaweesh, an Egyptian media personality and journalist, wrote on social media.

In Gaza, reactions to Sinwar’s death have been mixed. Some mourned his assassination, while others expressed relief and expressed hope that he could end the devastating war sparked by Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which he would have directed. Across the Arab and Muslim world, and outside of the devastation in Gaza, opinions varied.

One thing however was clear. The footage was hailed by supporters and even some critics as evidence of a man killed in a clash who, at least, was not hidden in a tunnel surrounded by hostages as Israel has said for much of last year.

Three days after his death, the Israeli army dropped leaflets in southern Gaza, showing another image of Sinwar lying dead in a chair, his finger cut off and blood streaming down his forehead. “Sinwar has destroyed your lives. He hid in a dark hole and was liquidated as he fearfully fled,” the leaflet said.

“I don’t think there is a senior Palestinian leader who died in a confrontation (like Sinwar), according to what the leaked Israeli version shows,” said Sadeq Abu Amer, head of the Palestinian Dialogue Group, an organization from Istanbul. based think tank.

Sinwar’s disappearance was different

Unlike Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in his hotel room in Iran, or Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, bombarded in an underground bunker by dozens of massive munitions, Sinwar was killed while he was apparently fighting Israeli forces, more than a year after the start of the war.

Iran, the Shiite power and main supporter of Hamas, went further. He contrasted Sinwar’s death with that of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Tehran’s sworn enemy.

In a statement from the Iranian mission to the UN, it said Saddam appeared disheveled out of an underground hole, dragged by US forces as he “begged them not to kill him even though he was armed” . Sinwar, on the other hand, was killed in the open while “facing the enemy,” Iran said.

In a strongly worded statement, the Cairo-based Al-Azhar newspaper, the highest seat of Sunni Muslim scholarship in the world, blasted Israel’s portrayal of Sinwar as a terrorist. Without naming Sinwar, the press release specifies that the “martyrs of the resistance” died defending their land and their cause.

In Israel, the army’s Arabic-speaking spokesman, Avichay Adraee, described Sinwar as “defeated, outcast and persecuted.” Many celebrated the news of the assassination of the architect of the October 7 attack.

A video posted online showed a lifeguard on a Tel Aviv beach announcing the news to applause, while Israeli media showed soldiers handing out candy. Residents of Sderot, a town attacked by Hamas militants, were filmed dancing in the streets, some wrapped in Israeli flags. On Telegram, some shared photos of a dead Sinwar, comparing him to a rat.

But there have also been protests from the hostages’ families and their supporters, who want Israeli leaders to use this opportunity to bring the hostages home.

Some are full of energy, not demoralized

Susan Abulhawa, one of the most widely read Palestinian authors, said the images released by Israel were a source of pride. Israel “thought that publishing images of Sinwar’s final moments would demoralize us, make us feel defeated,” she wrote on determination until the last moment. »

In the Palestinian territories and Lebanon, some remember him with respect, while others express anger.

“He died fighting, as a martyr,” said Somaia Mohtasib, a Palestinian displaced from Gaza City.

For Saleh Shonnar, a resident of northern Gaza now displaced to the center, tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed. “Hundreds, if not dozens, of senior leaders were martyred and replaced by new leaders. »

In Khan Younis, Sinwar’s birthplace, mourners at a bombed mosque recited the funeral prayer of a Muslim man whose body went missing. Israel kept Sinwar’s body. Dozens of men and children took part in the prayers.

And in Wadi al-Zayne, a town in Lebanon’s Chouf region with a large Palestinian population, Bilal Farhat said Sinwar’s death made him a symbol of heroic resistance.

“He died fighting on the front line. It gives him a kind of mystical hero aura,” Farhat said.

Some Palestinians have turned to X to criticize Sinwar and downplay his death in relation to their own suffering. One speaker in a recorded discussion said there was no way to tell how he died. Another blamed him for 18 years of suffering, calling him a “mad man” who started a war he could not win. “If he is dear, we have had many other loved ones killed,” one of them shouted.

In the long term, the think tank’s Abu Amer said the effect of support and empathy for Sinwar after his death is unlikely to change the Arab public’s opinion of October 7 and what followed.

“Those who supported October 7 will continue to do so, and those who opposed it – and there are many of them – will maintain their opinions, even if they show sympathy or admiration for it. Most Palestinians are now focused on ending the war,” he said.

Julia Frankel and Ibrahim Hazboun in Jerusalem, Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut, and Wafaa Shurafa in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, contributed to this report.

This still image taken from video provided by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) shows a badly damaged building with a person identified by the Israeli military as Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar sitting in a chair in Rafah, in the Gaza Strip, Wednesday, October 16, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces via AP)

Motorcycles pass a banner of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, killed Wednesday by Israeli forces in Gaza, outside the British Embassy in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Motorcycles pass a banner of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, killed Wednesday by Israeli forces in Gaza, on Jomhouri-e-Eslami (Islamic Republic) Street, in front of the British Embassy in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday October 1, 2017. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)