Ceasefire hopes dashed: Israel and foes vow to fight on after Hamas leader’s death

Jerusalem/Cairo: Pledges from Israel and its enemies Hamas and Hezbollah to keep fighting in Gaza and Lebanon dashed hopes that the death of Palestinian militant leader Yahya Sinwar might be the beginning of the end to more than a year of escalating war in the Middle East.

World leaders, including US President Joe Biden, who met the leaders of Germany, France and the United Kingdom on Friday (Saturday AEST), had expressed hopes for a ceasefire with Sinwar out of the picture, but they all but evaporated after Hamas confirmed Sinwar’s death and reiterated its stance that Israeli hostages will not be released until Israeli troops withdraw – pushing back against a statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a day earlier that his country’s military will keep fighting until the hostages are released.

Israel’s arch-foe and the militants’ main backer, Iran, also said Sinwar’s death would only fuel “the spirit of resistance”, while Hezbollah said it was entering a new phase in its fight against Israeli troops.

A statement from the group’s operations room early Friday says Hezbollah’s fighters have used new types of precision-guided missiles and explosive drones for the first time.

Hamas leader Sinwar, a mastermind of the October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the Gaza war, was killed by Israeli soldiers in the Palestinian enclave on Wednesday. Video showed him tossing a stick at a drone as he sat dying.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called his killing a milestone but vowed to keep up the war, which in recent weeks expanded from fighting Hamas in Gaza into an invasion and pursuit of Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Supporters raise a poster of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who was killed by Israeli troops in Gaza.Credit: AP

“The war, my dear ones, is not yet over,” Netanyahu told Israelis late on Thursday, saying fighting would continue until hostages held by Hamas are released.

“We have before us a great opportunity to stop the axis of evil,” he added, referring to Iran and its militant allies across the region, also in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

Hamas said hostages would be released only after a halt of hostilities in Gaza, an Israeli withdrawal and the release of its prisoners.

“The martyrdom of our brother, the leader Yahya Sinwar ... will only increase the strength and resolve of Hamas and our resistance,” it said, confirming his death.

That rhetoric from the warring parties contrasted with Western leaders who said Sinwar’s death offered a chance for negotiations. Sinwar had been refusing talks, Washington said.

Israel’s government has rejected several attempts by the United States, its main ally, at brokering ceasefires in both Gaza and Lebanon.

One senior diplomat working in Lebanon told Reuters that hopes Sinwar’s death would end the war appeared misplaced.

“We had hoped, really throughout this, that getting rid of Sinwar would be the turning point where the wars would end ... where everyone would be ready to put their weapons down. It appears we were once again mistaken,” the diplomat said.

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said he feared the war was only going to get worse.

Families of Israeli hostages said that while the killing of Sinwar was an achievement, it would not be complete while captives were still in Gaza.

The conflict has caused direct Iranian-Israeli confrontations, including missile attacks on Israel in April and earlier this month.

Netanyahu has vowed to respond to the October attack, though Washington has pressed it not to strike Iranian energy facilities or nuclear sites.

Biden, on a visit to Berlin on Friday, said there was a possibility of working towards a ceasefire in Lebanon but it would be harder in Gaza. He also told reporters he had an understanding of how and when Israel would respond to the missile attacks by Iran. He declined to elaborate.

“I told the prime minister of Israel yesterday, let’s also make this moment an opportunity to seek a path to peace, a better future in Gaza without Hamas,” Biden said.

Sinwar masterminded last year’s October 7 attacks in Israel, which killed some 1200 people, according to Israeli authorities. Israel has killed more than 42,000 people, according to Palestinian officials, as well as displacing most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people.

Hezbollah, which began firing rockets at Israel on October 8, is the target of Israel’s intensifying assault on Lebanon, which has killed more than 2000 people and displaced 1.2 million.

Israel has now killed several of Hamas’ top leaders and in a matter of weeks decapitated the Hezbollah leadership, mainly through air strikes.

The killings have dealt a blow to the proxy militant groups that Iran has spent decades supporting across the region.

Experts said the Palestinian militant group was likely to replace Sinwar with a new political leader based outside Gaza, while his brother Mohammad Sinwar was expected to assume a bigger role directing the war against Israel.

AP, Reuters

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.