Vivian Bercovici: Yahya Sinwar was a force for evil

TEL AVIV — Late afternoon on Thursday, in the midst of a quiet holiday in Israel, a shock jolted the country.

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, architect behind the October 7 massacre — who also destroyed the lives of 2.5-million Palestinians — was dead. Covered in dirt. In a building where he and two other terrorists had been killed following a firefight with the Israel Defence Forces on Wednesday. There had been a firefight. When the three terrorists realized that the IDF was closing in, they split up.

Sinwar went to hide in the corner of a room in an abandoned apartment building in Rafah. He had been wounded in the gunfire. Drone footage taken by the IDF before entering the building shows a terrorist, slouched in an armchair. He picks up a block of wood and throws it at the drone, missing.

At some point after that, a tank shell hit the building, causing part of it to collapse. It was this event that seems to have killed the terrorist. When IDF troops entered the building on Thursday morning, they found the man in the armchair, covered in rubble.

It was Yahya Sinwar.

Israel had known for months that Sinwar and Hamas’ main fighting force was concentrated in the southern city of Rafah. It is also the city that the United States and many western countries pressured Israel not to enter, in spite of knowing that Hamas was entrenched there. Weapons entered the Strip through a massive tunnel network connecting Rafah to Egypt. To defeat Hamas, to have a hope of rescuing the hostages, it was imperative to conquer Rafah.

When he died, Sinwar was wearing a bullet-proof vest and carrying an UNRWA identity card, worry beads, 40,000 in New Israeli Shekels (C$ 15,000), and an unopened roll of Mentos candies. He was armed with a knife and a gun. To those who revere him he will be respected for having gone down fighting. To those who despise him he will be remembered as a force of evil, who lay in the dirt — in the end — defeated.

The other two men, also killed in the building, have been identified. One was a senior official with the Hamas-run Ministry of Defence. The second was a teacher with UNRWA (also carrying his UNRWA card with him). Both men were acting as Sinwar’s bodyguards at the time.

They were also very close to the location where six Israeli hostages were found murdered in a tunnel 20 metres underground on Aug. 31. In fact, based on forensic evidence taken from that site and nearby, Israel has determined that “The Six” (as they have come to be called) were used as human shields by Sinwar.

When their bodies were found — two women and four men — between the ages of 23 and 40, they were emaciated, having been slowly starved. They were also severely dehydrated, and all showed signs of torture and serious ailments.

In a hastily convened press conference Thursday night by the Hostage Family Forum, Gil Dickmann, the cousin of 40-year-old Carmel Gat (who was among The Six) said that it was chilling to learn that she had been held so close to Sinwar. Dickmann, who continues to advocate for the release of all 101 hostages remaining in Hamas captivity, speculated on the interactions and discussion that may have transpired between Sinwar and The Six.

A fluent Hebrew speaker, Sinwar is known to have made cameo appearances among the hostages he held. At times he engaged; at others he said little. One notable exchange was on the day after Hamas attacked Israel. Sinwar showed up at a caged room, deep underground, where 12 people from Kibbutz Nir Oz, aged 5 to 85, were held. It was dark, filthy, damp. “How is everything,” he asked, jovially. “Is everything OK?” Most of the hostages were stunned.

Sinwar told the 12 hostages that they would be home in a day or two; saying confidently that he would negotiate their release with Israel. That, of course, is not what happened.

Among the group was an 83-year-old peace activist, Yocheved Lifschitz. She spoke to Sinwar: “I asked him how he is not ashamed to do such a thing to people who all these years have supported peace.” Sinwar, as she recalls, said nothing in response.

The truth is, Sinwar had no interest in peace. He was a man who devoted his life to destroying Israel.

Shortly after 8pm, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the nation, saying that all hostages must be released. He offered clemency to anyone holding hostages who surrendered them and promised death to those who do not. In fact, Netanyahu as well as Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, swore to avenge October 7 and find and kill all those responsible. Methodically.

Also Thursday night, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a telephone call with Isralei President Isaac Herzog, made it clear that the U.S. would be working diligently to bring an end to this crisis. This, he said, is the moment to seize.

It is believed that of 101 hostages still held by Hamas, approximately 60 are still alive.

As Dickmann speculated Thursday, if The Six were so horrendously mistreated while in such close proximity to Sinwar, it is horrifying to consider the conditions in which those remaining are kept.

The question now is who holds them, and where? Who controls Hamas?

National Post

Vivian Bercovici is a former Canadian ambassador to Israel and the founder of the State of Tel Aviv.