October 7 Attack: Israel Vows to Eliminate New Hamas Chief, As War Enters 11th Month

Israel has vowed to get the new Hamas chief, Yahya Sinwar, the alleged mastermind of the October 7 attack, whose appointment further inflamed regional tensions as the Gaza war entered its 11th month on Wednesday.

The naming of Sinwar to lead the Palestinian militant group came as Israel braced for potential Iranian retaliation over the killing of his predecessor Ismail Haniyeh last week in Tehran.

Speaking at a military base on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was “determined” to defend itself.

“We are prepared both defensively and offensively,” he told new recruits.

Army chief, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi vowed to “find him (Sinwar), attack him” and force Hamas to find another leader.

Sinwar — Hamas’s leader in Gaza since 2017 — has not been seen since the October 7 attack, which was the deadliest in Israel’s history.

A senior Hamas official told AFP that the selection of Sinwar sent a message that the organisation “continues its path of resistance”.

Hamas’s Lebanese ally Hezbollah congratulated Sinwar and said the appointment affirms “the enemy… has failed to achieve its objectives” by killing Hamas leaders and officials.

Analysts believe Sinwar has been both more reluctant to agree to a Gaza ceasefire and closer to Tehran than Haniyeh, who lived in Qatar.

“If a ceasefire deal seemed unlikely upon Haniyeh’s death, it is even less likely under Sinwar,” according to Rita Katz, executive director of the SITE Intelligence Group.

“The group will only lean further into its hardline militant strategy of recent years,” she added.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters that it was up to Sinwar to help achieve a ceasefire, saying he “has been and remains the primary decider”.

Civilians in both Israel and Gaza met Sinwar’s appointment with unease.

Mohammad al-Sharif, a displaced Gazan, told AFP: “He is a fighter. How will negotiations take place?”

In Tel Aviv, logistics company manager Hanan, who did not want to give his second name, said Sinwar’s appointment meant Hamas “did not see fit to look for someone less militant, someone with a less murderous approach”.

Iran-backed Hezbollah has also pledged to avenge the deaths of Haniyeh and its own military commander Fuad Shukr in an Israeli strike in Beirut hours earlier.

In a televised address to mark one week since Shukr’s death, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Tuesday his group would retaliate “alone or in the context of a unified response from all the axis” of Iran-backed groups in the region.

The United States, which has sent extra warships and jets to the region, urged both Iran and Israel to avoid an escalation.

President Joe Biden had calls with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, the Qatari emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Tuesday.

“No one should escalate this conflict. We’ve been engaged in intense diplomacy with allies and partners, communicating that message directly to Iran. We communicated that message directly to Israel,” Blinken told reporters.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in a telephone call that the West “should immediately stop selling arms and supporting” Israel if it wants to prevent war, his office said.