Israeli officials said Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed by Israel Defense Forces in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday. Hamas has not commented publicly on the reports.

Sinwar was the mastermind of the Oct. 7 terror attacks, which killed 1,200 people and set off Israel’s year-long war against Hamas in Gaza. Israel has made killing him a key objective, and may now be more willing to scale back its military operations in Gaza.

    • FlowVoid@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      Well, Israeli war aims included diminishing Hamas. But they also included returning any hostages who are still alive. So I think the fighting will continue at least in the short term.

        • InverseParallax@lemmy.world
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          7 hours ago

          Nobody wants Gaza land, it’s a shit hole.

          They tried to ignore Gaza before Oct 7, they were focused on the west bank settlements that were actually not garbage.

          • hark@lemmy.world
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            3 hours ago

            No, that’s on israel that actually does not care about the hostages and intentionally torpedoed all negotiations and even killed some of them themselves.

          • Match!!@pawb.social
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            6 hours ago

            hamas doesn’t know if they’re alive or dead either, considering their command structure is dead

            • InverseParallax@lemmy.world
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              5 hours ago

              They don’t know because they didn’t care.

              It was just terror factor for them, they didn’t care what happened, who got hurt, just brutality for brutality’s sake.

              • Match!!@pawb.social
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                4 hours ago

                i’m pretty sure they made demands asking for palestinians to be released from israeli prisons and I’m pretty sure israel rejected those demands

    • ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works
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      9 hours ago

      He was particularly hostile to peace with Israel (and Israel was particularly hostile to peace with him). Furthermore (according to my understanding) Hamas doesn’t have much formal structure; it isn’t like the USA where the government is ready to accept the vice president as the leader if the president dies. I assume that Sinwar prepared a successor, but there’s still probably no one who knows all the same things and has the loyalty of all the same people.

        • gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world
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          8 hours ago

          He also wrote that Netanyahu will pay any price at the expense of the public in Israel, provided that his rule does not fall "and therefore, to the horror of it, there is no chance that the war will end in the foreseeable future. Neither voluntarily nor according to logic. Its continuation forever is the only barrier that will prevent his personal catastrophe.

          Yep, the ongoing war is delaying a corruption trial against Bibi where I think he could be sentenced to up to 30 years in prison, so he’s going to keep this war going forever if he can

        • ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works
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          9 hours ago

          Israel is not the USA. It doesn’t have the economy to support a forever war, even with US help. Most of its soldiers are reservists who need to go back to their jobs sooner rather than later.

            • ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works
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              8 hours ago

              I’m not a fan of Netanyahu but that article isn’t a hard-headed political analysis. Even Netanyahu is constrained by physical reality; he might not have a realistic plan for peace, but that doesn’t mean he can continue war indefinitely.

      • Cyborganism@lemmy.ca
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        9 hours ago

        You don’t think that whoever survives the horror they just have been through on Gaza will eventually replace them?

        • ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works
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          8 hours ago

          No, I don’t think the popular theory that organizations like Hamas exist because people want revenge is correct. The critical component seems to be a power vacuum; in its absence humans will tolerate anything. If Israel establishes order in Gaza by some means (and by that I don’t just mean armed patrols through hostile territory) then there can be occasional terrorist attacks but no organized resistance.

          The problem that I see is actually that there’s little precedent for establishing order in circumstances like this while acting with the humanitarian constraints that Israel does have. The USA failed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Russia succeeded in Chechnya but Israel cannot (and should not) even come close to the level of brutality Russia employed.

          • Cyborganism@lemmy.ca
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            7 hours ago

            Yeah if Israel extends it’s apartheid into Gaza, that’ll bring peace in the region for sure.

            /S

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        9 hours ago

        Things are going to have to get a lot worse for the IDF before they would take out their own leader.

    • InverseParallax@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      Meh, it’s not a bad thing.

      Killing Hamas (who did Oct 7) should make it easier to put things back together afterwards.

      Bibi has to go first though, obviously, he’s 10 Sinwars.

      • NateNate60@lemmy.world
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        9 hours ago

        Terrorist groups are more likely to form in bad social, political, and economic circumstances. Astute observation.

      • BlameThePeacock@lemmy.ca
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        7 hours ago

        And Israel was created because the Jews got fucking slaughtered and driven from their homes in the world wars and didn’t have anywhere safe that anyone wanted them.

        And the US exists because the Europeans slaughtered the native Americans.

        And England exists because they slaughtered the locals that were there before.

        And modern China exists because they slaughtered the group before them.

        Its almost like this is exactly how it’s always worked.

        • Cyborganism@lemmy.ca
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          7 hours ago

          Weird way to excuse a genocide but ok.

          Edit: the fact that Jewish people went through a Holocaust, doesn’t excuse them from creating another one.

    • Sl00k@programming.dev
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      4 hours ago

      Plenty more to go.

      If you’re referring to innocent women and children yes that’s accurate.

      • WhyFlip@lemmy.world
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        4 hours ago

        Human shields around fucking cowards, yes. The women are completely complicit. I only feel bad for the children, but the parents of these want to completely eradicate all Jews, so fuck 'em.

  • IAmNotACat@lemmy.world
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    9 hours ago

    Not many people could get a bullseye with 40,000 darts and a year to use them. Fairplay to Israel for their precision on this one.

    • catloaf@lemm.ee
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      9 hours ago

      During a routine patrol by the IDF, the soldiers encountered three armed men. They exchanged fire and killed them. Israeli officials said the incident was coincidental and not based on intelligence.

  • ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works
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    9 hours ago

    Good news is rare. I hope this was the result of better intelligence on the whereabouts of the Hamas leadership rather than luck.

    • catloaf@lemm.ee
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      8 hours ago

      I pasted this in response to the wrong comment, so here it is again for you:

      During a routine patrol by the IDF, the soldiers encountered three armed men. They exchanged fire and killed them. Israeli officials said the incident was coincidental and not based on intelligence.

      • Kyrgizion@lemmy.world
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        8 hours ago

        They wouldn’t exactly admit a source and compromise further operations. They probably had at least an idea of where he might be.

        • mlg@lemmy.world
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          4 hours ago

          OBL hid in a personal mansion for 10 years only 100 miles away from Pakistan Military Academy

          Mullah Omar hid in a tunnel only 3 miles away from Base Wolverine lol.

          I think it was probably a bit of both. They knew he was in the north, but not much more. I presume their intel gathering fell apart after the infrastructure collapsed.

      • ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works
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        7 hours ago

        He was just walking around on the surface? Why?

        Edit: Kyrgizion makes a good point.

        They wouldn’t exactly admit a source and compromise further operations. They probably had at least an idea of where he might be.

  • Anas@lemmy.world
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    5 hours ago

    Let it be known that he was not assassinated while hiding in the tunnels like they claim. This was not some mastermind operation, or proof of the IOF’s capability or willingness to perform precise strikes in Gaza. He was martyred in battle, rifle in hand. A position you will never see bibi in.

    and may now be more willing to scale back its military operations in Gaza.

    press X to doubt