Live: Five Palestinian journalists killed, Gaza media office says

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest updates:

• Several Palestinians, including children, were killed in an Israeli attack on northern Gaza's al-Shati refugee camp, the Wafa news agency reported
• The Israeli army said that 15 rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel in the latest rocket barrage
• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held separate phone calls with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on ending the conflict in the Middle East, the State Department says
• The World Health Organisation has accused Israel of barring medical specialists from entering Gaza to support efforts in the Palestinian enclave

Hello Middle East Eye readers. On Thursday, Israel announced that its military killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in the Tal al-Sultan neighbourhood of Rafah, Gaza's southernmost city.

Hamas has yet to comment on the killing, but Israel said that it identified Sinwar's body using DNA testing. Later, Israel released drone footage purportedly showing the Hamas leader's final moments, where he was found in military garb and with a severed arm.

The footage as well as Israel's description of his killing run contrary to Israel's claims that Sinwar was hiding among Israeli captives in Hamas's intricate tunnel system underneath Gaza.

US President Joe Biden's administration has said that the killing of Sinwar could help bring an end to Israel's war on Gaza.

However, in a video statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to continue fighting in Gaza, and former Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz said that Israel would continue to operate in Gaza "for years".

Meanwhile in Lebanon, Hezbollah said that it has killed 55 Israeli soldiers and wounded another 500, while also destroying 20 Israeli tanks and two Hermes drones.

The Lebanese movement announced that it was transitioning into a "new and escalating phase" in its fight against Israel.

Here's what else you need to know about today's developments:

• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is planning a trip to the Middle East in the coming days, in an attempt to push for a hostage deal in Gaza.

• The Palestinian civil defence has said that at least 10 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike on a house in the Maghazi camp in central Gaza.

• The Israeli military announced that five of its soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon.

• In its updated death toll, the Lebanese health ministry has said that 2,412 people have been killed by Israeli forces since last October, while a further 11,285 have been wounded.

• Fadi al-Wahidi, the Palestinian journalist who was shot by Israeli forces last week, has now slipped into a coma.

• Hamas' armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said that its fighters targeted a group of Israeli soldiers in al-Rayyan in Rafah by detonating a "booby-trapped" tunnel.

• The Biden administration said it was going to authorise certain Lebanese nationals currently in the US to apply for Temporary Protected Status, allowing them to remain for the next 18 months and apply for work permits.

Al-Azhar, the highest seat of learning in the Sunni Islamic world based in Cairo, released a statement mourning the Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza.

"Al-Azhar affirms that the martyrs of the 'Palestinian resistance' were true resisters who terrified their enemy and instilled fear and terror in their hearts. They were not terrorists, as the enemy falsely and deceitfully tries to portray them," the institution said.

Lebanon's Hezbollah movement said in a statement early on Friday that it will "transition to a new and escalating phase in the confrontation with Israel".

Israel’s announcement on Thursday of the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza has seemingly fuelled the US with new energy to pursue a stalled ceasefire agreement, but it faces a short window of opportunity and an emboldened ally as it looks to revive a deal. 

The Biden administration's reluctance to use any leverage against Israel for a ceasefire has brought into question the administration's sincerity in wanting an end to the war on Gaza. It has also dulled perceptions of Washington's ability to influence events as escalations between Israel and Iran, and Israel's invasion of Lebanon, bring the region to the brink of an all-out war.

US officials are now scrambling to revive ceasefire talks that just days ago the White House said were frozen, according to one current and two former senior US officials. 

“This administration believed the utility of the war diminished three or four months ago. Now they have an impetus to take another stab at talks,” David Schenker, a former US State Department official, told MEE. 

President Biden’s senior advisors have already reached out to mediators Egypt and Qatar, one of the former senior officials briefed by the administration told MEE, adding that the White House could dispatch CIA chief Bill Burns back to the region in the coming weeks.

“Sinwar’s death opens the door for a possible deal. The administration is going to try and run with this to see if they can take the talks out of deadlock,” Alan Pino, a former CIA and National Intelligence Council officer for the Middle East told MEE. 

But Patrick Theros, the former US ambassador to Qatar, said the US might be too late in thinking a ceasefire can put a lid on regional tensions.

"Gaza is rapidly becoming an irrelevant victim. The momentum has shifted to the Lebanon war, and soon maybe an Iran war. Gaza is a sideshow and Sinwar's killing is a complication, not a show-stopper," Theros told MEE.

To read the full analysis, click below.

Hamas chief's killing may revive peace talks, but US sincerity and Israeli defiance raise doubts

In a statement on Telegram, Hezbollah said that it killed around 55 Israeli soldiers amid the current fighting inside Lebanon.

The Lebanese movement added that it wounded a further 500 soldiers, and destroyed 20 Merkava tanks, four bulldozers. Hezbollah said it also downed two Hermes drones.

The Israeli military has not commented on the death toll claimed by Hezbollah.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is planning a trip to the Middle East in the coming days, in an attempt to push for a hostage deal in Gaza, the Axios news outlet is reporting.

The Palestinian civil defence has said that at least 10 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike on a house in the Maghazi camp in central Gaza.

Maghazi was declared a humanitarian zone by Israel's military, but despite this Israel has launched continued air strikes on the camp.

Amid the reaction over Israel's announcement that its military killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the army announced that five Israeli soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon. One of those killed was an Israeli officer.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington will redouble efforts to bring Israel's war on Gaza to an end, after Israel announced that its forces killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

There haven't been any ceasefire talks between Israel, Hamas and mediators Qatar, US and Egypt for several weeks. The talks have snagged on seemingly intractable issues like Israel's creation of the Netzarim Corridor and its insistence on maintaining control of the southern border between Gaza and Egypt.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war.

In a video address, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is not the end of the Israeli war on Gaza, and that its military would continue fighting until its captives were returned.

"Today evil has been dealt a blow but our task has still not been completed," Netanyahu said.

In his statement, he also framed the current conflict as a regional war. Israel recently invaded Lebanon and has been fighting against the Hezbollah movement, while its military also conducted air strikes against the Houthi movement inside Yemen.

In its updated death toll, the Lebanese health ministry has said that 2,412 people have been killed by Israeli forces since October 2023, while a further 11,285 have been wounded.

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was Israel’s most wanted man. Israel's government and military both confirmed on Thursday that he was killed in Gaza in a gunfight during an Israeli operation in Rafah. Hamas has not yet commented on Israel's announcement.

Sinwar was born in the Khan Younis refugee camp, in southern Gaza, in 1962.

His parents were forcibly displaced by Israel from their home in Ashkelon in 1948 during the Nakba (catastrophe), when 750,000 Palestinians were forced out of their homes.

It was at university, in 1982, that he was arrested for the first time by Israeli authorities for involvement in anti-occupation activism.

He was re-arrested three years later and subsequently met Ahmed Yassin, who would go on to found Hamas. Yassin brought Sinwar into his inner circle.

In 1988, he was again arrested by Israeli forces and this time given four life sentences - the equivalent of 426 years in jail.

In captivity he learned Hebrew, frequently reading Israeli newspapers and immersing himself in Israeli politics and culture. He said it helped him better understand his enemy.

In 2011, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, agreed to a deal that saw 1,047 Palestinian prisoners released in exchange for Gilad Shalit - an Israeli soldier who had been abducted in 2006.

Sinwar was one of the most prominent prisoners to be freed as part of that deal.

He quickly rose through the ranks of Hamas upon release and was elected to its political bureau within a year.

"[Sinwar] is a strong supporter of Palestinian unity," Bassem Naim, a Hamas official, told Middle East Eye earlier this year.

To read the full story, click below.

Yahya Sinwar: The refugee and prisoner who went on to lead Hamas

In a post on X regarding the Israeli killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, former Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz said that Israel will continue to operate in Gaza "for years".

"The circle is closed, but the mission is not over," Gantz said.

"The IDF will continue to operate in the Gaza Strip for years to come, and now the series of achievements and the elimination of Sinwar must be taken advantage of to bring about the return of the abductees and the replacement of Hamas' rule."

אני מבקש לברך את לוחמי צה״ל שהביאו היום לחיסולו של סינוואר.
זהו הישג חשוב עם מסר ברור - נרדוף את אויבינו עד כלותם, בכל זמן ובכל מקום.

המעגל נסגר, אך המשימה לא תמה. צה״ל ימשיך לפעול ברצועה עוד שנים, וכעת יש לנצל את שורת ההישגים וחיסול סינוואר, כדי להביא להשבת החטופים ולהחלפת…

— בני גנץ - Benny Gantz (@gantzbe) October 17, 2024

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said that Israel has confirmed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed.

Hamas has yet to comment on whether Sinwar was killed or not.