A significant victory for Tel Aviv was the execution of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the alleged mastermind of the attack on October 7 of last year, which Israel responded to with a brutal military offensive in the Gaza Strip.
According to people who are familiar with Israeli leadership’s thinking, however, they are also trying to secure strategic gains that go beyond military victories. These gains aim to reshape the landscape of the region in Israel’s favor and protect Israel’s borders from any future attacks.
With US races drawing nearer, Israel is hurrying to cause most extreme harm for Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and immediately jumping all over the opportunity to cut out true cushion zones in a bid to make an irreversible reality before another president gets down to business in January, eight sources told Reuters.
According to Western diplomats, Lebanese and Israeli officials, as well as other regional sources, Israel wants to prevent its enemies and their alleged chief patron, Iran, from regrouping and threatening Israeli citizens once more by intensifying its military operations against Hezbollah and Hamas.
It is anticipated that the assassination of Sinwar will be used by US President Joe Biden to put pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the conflict in Gaza. The Israeli leader may, on the other hand, prefer to wait until Biden’s term is over and try his luck with the next president, either the Democratic candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, or the Republican rival, Donald Trump, with whom Netanyahu has had close ties.
Israel is intensifying its military campaign to drive Hezbollah away from its northern border and into Gaza’s crowded Jabalia refugee camp before considering any ceasefire agreements. Palestinians and UN agencies worry that this could be an attempt to isolate northern Gaza from the rest of the enclave.
It is also planning a response to Iran’s barrage of ballistic missiles on October 1, which was Israel’s second direct attack in six months.
David Schenker, a former US assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs who is now a senior fellow at the Washington Institute think tank, stated, “There is a new landscape, a new geopolitical change in the region.”
According to Schenker, Israel was “willing to tolerate a high-level threat” prior to Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023, and it responded to the Palestinian group’s and other adversaries’ rocket fire with limited strikes. No more.”
“Israel is fighting on multiple fronts this time. Hamas is it; He said, “Iran is coming soon, it’s Hezbollah.”
According to Israeli statistics, Hamas-led fighters took more than 250 hostages and killed approximately 1,200 people during the assault in southern Israel. Health authorities in the enclave claim that Israel’s subsequent offensive has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians in Gaza.
In a statement on Thursday, Netanyahu said that Sinwar’s death “settled the score,” but he also said that the Gaza offensive would continue at full speed until Israel returned its hostages.
According to his office, there was nothing more to add.
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesman, stated that the removal of Sinwar was a “great achievement” in the efforts to eliminate Hamas’ military apparatus, but added that there were other Gaza commanders.
Khalil al-Hayya, Hamas’s Gaza deputy leader, confirmed Sinwar’s death on Friday and stated that Israeli hostages would not be returned until Israeli “aggression” was stopped and its forces withdrew.
Other significant blows have been dealt by Israeli forces to its foes.
A progression of high-profile strikes cleared out senior pioneers including Hamas political boss Ismail Haniyeh, Mohammed Deif, top of its tactical wing, Hezbollah pioneer Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and its top military commandant, Fuad Shukr.
Additionally, Israel asserts that it has severely reduced the groups’ arsenals of weapons, captured extensive tunnel networks, and eliminated thousands of their fighters.