Netanyahu faces pressure to end Gaza conflict after killing of Sinwar

The killing of Israel's most wanted enemy, Yahya Sinwar, has been hailed as vindication for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. However, in a country weary after a year of conflicts, it also raises pressure on him to end the fighting and save the hostages still in Gaza.

Netanyahu himself described Sinwar's death as "the beginning of the end" of a conflict that has spread to Lebanon and Yemen, asserting that it could conclude if Hamas lays down its arms and returns the 101 Israeli and foreign hostages held in Gaza.

"I think what we have now is an opportunity to use this moment in Gaza to close the front in Gaza," said Shira Efron, senior director of policy research at the pro-Israel Diane and Guilford Glazer Foundation.

"You need to remember that this goes into the kishka (the guts) of Israeli society; they've avenged the mastermind Sinwar," she added.

Yet it remains unclear how Hamas will respond to the death of their leader, who was filmed by an Israeli drone while badly wounded in a ruined building in Gaza before his body was recovered and taken to Israel for tests that confirmed his identity.

On Friday, the deputy head of Hamas, Khalil Al-Hayya, stated that Israeli hostages would not be returned until Israeli aggression ended and its forces withdrew.

Some of Netanyahu's hardline political allies, including his Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, have insisted that Israel should not stop until the "complete surrender" of Hamas.

However, with the White House discussing a potential "inflection point," even many supporters of Israel's previously uncompromising approach believe there is an opportunity to end the fighting.

"I think Netanyahu said the right thing last night. Give us the hostages, and when everyone – the hostages – returns, we'll leave," said Erez Goldman, a Jerusalem resident, as he processed the news the following day.

A significant section of Israeli opinion, including Netanyahu's, has maintained that the only way to achieve peace is by inflicting military defeats on their enemies, even if that comes at the cost of upsetting their allies.

Netanyahu has resisted pressure for months from the families of hostages and world leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden, to agree to a ceasefire deal in Gaza. However, the deaths of a series of militant leaders, including Sinwar, have been seen by many as vindication of Israel's refusal to bow to international pressure.

Sinwar's death gives Israel an "off-ramp" from Gaza

Mohammed Deif, Hamas' longstanding military commander, was killed in Gaza in July, and that same month, the movement's political leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran. Two months later, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in Beirut, marking one of a series of leaders from the Iranian-backed group eliminated in a wave of Israeli airstrikes.

The addition of Sinwar to this list could provide Netanyahu with a potential "off-ramp" from Gaza, according to Carmiel Arbit, a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.

"But Sinwar's death alone does not guarantee the circumstances necessary for Netanyahu to declare an end to the war as so many hope," she cautioned.

Hostage families feel that after ceasefire talks apparently stalled weeks ago, there is no time to waste. "It's an opportunity that we might not have again," said Daniel Lifshitz, whose grandfather, Oded Lifshitz, is still held in Gaza.

Even Amit Solvi, the chairperson of Kibbutz Be'eri – a community close to the Gaza Strip that lost one in ten of its population on October 7 – stated that the chance presented by Sinwar's death should be seized. "There is an opportunity," he said. "Israel has to take this opportunity with both hands and evolve that into a diplomatic agreement."

Much will depend on who succeeds Sinwar, whose death in combat has been hailed by many Palestinians as a heroic act of defiance against Israel that should inspire further resistance.

Israel has stated that it must maintain security control over Gaza when combat operations end, but it has not revealed any detailed plans for governing the enclave beyond rejecting any role for Hamas or the Palestinian Authority.

After a year of conflicts, the enclave lies in ruins, with more than 42,000 Palestinians dead and most of the population displaced. Reconstruction will take years and require billions of dollars in heavy international support.

(With input from Reuters)