Benjamin Netanyahu may be celebrating Yahya Sinwar’s death as a victory, but anyone who believes that the fighting will now stop is fooling themselves. The killing of Sinwar does not end the decades of suffering, occupation, and violence inflicted upon the Palestinian people. It does nothing to address the genocide that continues to unfold before our eyes. Palestinians are not fighting because Sinwar or any other leader told them to; they are fighting because their homeland was stolen and because they are being systematically eradicated.
Let’s start with the facts. In July, the Palestinians agreed to a ceasefire. They were prepared to stop the fighting, but Israel refused to meet even the most basic terms. The truth is, Israel does not want peace. It has always been more interested in collective punishment, in making the entire Palestinian population suffer, rather than negotiating any real resolution. The systematic destruction of Gaza is not about eliminating Hamas or any specific leaders; it’s about driving Palestinians off their land, punishing them for daring to exist, and erasing their future.
Sinwar’s death, however gruesome and hailed by Netanyahu, does nothing to change the situation. The details of his death, which Israel was so eager to publicize, paint a very different picture from the cowardly figure their propaganda machine tried to create. In Rafah, Israeli forces spotted five Hamas fighters, including Sinwar. They fired upon them, killing all but one—Sinwar himself. Despite being surrounded, he refused to flee or hide. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) launched a shoulder-launched missile at the building where Sinwar was taking cover. He survived.
What followed was more than 15 minutes of relentless attempts to kill him. The IDF then deployed an FPV drone to finish the job. In a final act of defiance, Sinwar—injured and with his right arm torn off—stood up, gathered rocks, and tried to strike the drone out of the air. His comrades were dead, his body was broken, but he fought on, using every ounce of strength he had left. Only when he was out in the open did an IDF sniper finally take him down with a shot to the head.
This is the man Israel claims was a coward hiding in tunnels. This is the man they said lived in luxury while his people suffered. In his final moments, Sinwar was a 62-year-old man standing in the rubble, fighting with prayer beads in his pocket and an AK-47 on his shoulder. He refused to leave Gaza, even when offered a way out. He died fighting for his people, setting an example for those who will follow.
Israel released footage of his last moments, likely thinking it would humiliate him. Instead, it showed the world Sinwar’s true character—a leader who stood his ground until his last breath. He will now be revered as a martyr, a symbol of resistance, and his name will inspire millions. But his death does not end the fight; it only deepens the wound.
If Netanyahu believes that killing Sinwar brings Israel closer to peace, he is gravely mistaken. The idea that assassinations and airstrikes will ever bring an end to this conflict is absurd. As history has shown, when one leader falls, another will rise. Even if Hamas were to disappear tomorrow, a more extreme movement would take its place, led by the children of Gaza who have lived through this nightmare of terror and destruction.
But the issue here is not just about Sinwar or Hamas. The issue is Israel’s ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people, enabled by the United States. The truth is that Israel and the U.S. have killed so many innocents, flattened so much of Gaza, that they can never reasonably expect peace after this. How can they? They’ve created enemies for generations to come—Palestinian men and women who will one day tell their grandchildren about the horrors they endured in 2024. Elderly Palestinians decades from now will still bear the physical and emotional scars of the violence inflicted upon them today.
This genocide will have repercussions for centuries. The United States and Israel have made themselves enemies to billions of people across the globe. The atrocities they have committed are so heinous, so beyond justification, that peace seems like an impossible fantasy. By murdering Sinwar, Haniyeh, and countless other Palestinian leaders over the last 13 months, Israel and the U.S. have run out of scapegoats. They can no longer claim that the ceasefire is being blocked by “terrorists” or any specific leaders. They’ve killed them all. So, who will they blame next for their own refusal to negotiate?
It took Israel 13 months to find Sinwar, operating less than 1,000 feet from an Israeli base. And even then, they needed overwhelming force to kill a 62-year-old man who stood alone at the end. Sinwar had more courage in his death than any Western leader has ever shown in their entire life. Have you ever seen a U.S. or Israeli leader on the frontlines? Standing in the rubble? Fighting for their people? The answer is no. They hide behind drones and tanks, while Sinwar fought with rocks.
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have admitted that the U.S. played a direct role in these assassinations, including Sinwar’s. They’ve openly supported Israel’s efforts to eliminate Palestinian leadership, all while claiming to seek peace. But how can peace ever be achieved when those who hold power refuse to acknowledge the basic humanity of the Palestinian people?
In a 2021 video, Sinwar said, “The greatest gift the enemy and occupation can give me is to assassinate me.” He knew that his death would only galvanize the movement. He knew that martyrdom would inspire the next generation of Palestinians to continue the fight for their land and their rights. Netanyahu, Biden, and the rest of the Western establishment may think they’ve silenced him, but his voice will only grow louder.
The cold truth is that peace will only come when Israel stops its genocide, when it leaves Palestinian land and agrees never to return. Until that day, the fighting will continue, and no amount of bullets or bombs will change that.
