Sinwar's killing opens up opportunity and much uncertainty for the war in Gaza

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Sinwar's killing opens up opportunity and much uncertainty for the war in Gaza

2024-10-18 05:59 Last Updated At：06:00

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel’s killing of Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’ top leader and the mastermind of the group’s Oct. 7 attack, is a dramatic turning point in the brutal yearlong war that it touched off.

Sinwar’s killing on Thursday decapitates the Palestinian militant group that has already been reeling from months of assassinations up and down its ranks. And it is a potent symbolic achievement for Israel in its battle to destroy Hamas.

The killing, coming just 10 days after Israelis and Palestinians marked a year since the deadliest fighting in their decades-old conflict erupted, could set the stage for how the remainder of the war plays out, or even prompt its conclusion — depending on how Israel and Hamas choose to proceed.

Sinwar, who was appointed head of Hamas after its previous leader was killed in a blast in July blamed on Israel, spent years building up Hamas’ military strength and is believed to have devised the Oct. 7, 2023, attack. After that assault, when Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people and abducted about 250 others, Israel pledged to destroy Hamas and kill each one of its leaders.

With Sinwar at the top of that wanted list, his death is a major achievement for Israel. Analysts say Sinwar’s killing has presented Israel, which has struggled to articulate an exit strategy from Gaza, with an off-ramp to end the war.

“This would really be the cherry on the icing of the cake for Israel,” said Nomi Bar-Yaacov, an associate fellow of the International Security Program at the Chatham House think tank in London. “It should be easier to reach a deal.”

With the architect of the Oct. 7 attacks eliminated, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could now tell Israelis that one of the war's aims has been reached. Politically, that might allow him to be more flexible on a cease-fire deal that ends the war in exchange for hostages — a condition he has so far refused to accept, at least in part, critics say, because it could threaten his rule.

Analysts said the achievement was such a gamechanger that it was an opportunity for Israel to signal that it is ready to end the fighting further afield in the region, including in Lebanon where Israel is battling Hezbollah.

“The opportunity to end the war entirely, as well as in Lebanon, ... it is entirely in our hands,” Giora Eiland, a former head of Israel’s National Security Council, told Israeli Channel 12 News, saying Israel must use Sinwar's death to present its conditions for ending the wars on both fronts.

The families of hostages in Gaza had a similar message for Netanyahu. A group representing the families welcomed Sinwar's killing but recognizing the potential opportunity, called on Israel to reconcentrate its efforts toward negotiating a deal.

“Netanyahu, don't bury the hostages. Go now to the negotiators and the Israeli public and present a new Israeli initiative,” Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is held in Gaza, said in a post on social media.

Khaled Elgindy, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Middle East Institute think tank, cautioned that Netanyahu has shown few indications that he is looking for an end to the conflict, with the army intensifying its operations in the north of Gaza in recent weeks.

“The war ... is not over yet,” Netanyahu said in a video statement after the killing.

Netanyahu rules with the support of two far-right parties that have threatened to topple the government if the war ends under a cease-fire deal. They repeated their opposition to a deal after Sinwar's killing. They are also supporters of establishing Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip, something the Israeli leader has publicly ruled out.

Netanyahu, who is on trial for alleged corruption, has also seen his political fortunes rise throughout the war, after they plummeted in response to Hamas' attack last year. Prolonging the war allows him to enjoy boosts of support after whatever successes he notches.

Sinwar was seen as a hard-liner with close ties to Hamas’ armed wing, and throughout repeated cease-fire negotiations with Israel was seen as having the final word on any agreement for Gaza and the release of dozens of Israeli hostages.

Sinwar's positions were directly at odds with Israel's. He stuck to demands for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and a lasting cease-fire — even as more than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in the ongoing war, according to local officials, and much of the territory left in ruins.

According to Elgindy, Sinwar’s death will likely give more flexibility and control to the group’s political leadership in Qatar. This includes Khalil al-Hayya and Khaled Mashaal, key Hamas delegates of the monthslong talks.

Those leaders could be more responsive to pressure from Qatar, a key mediator that hosts some of Hamas' top leaders. Unlike Sinwar, these leaders are also not in hiding in Gaza, which could speed up progress on a deal.

For Hamas, Sinwar’s killing leaves a gaping hole in the militant group’s leadership, with its future in Gaza and beyond uncertain. It is a symbolic blow for a group already reeling from multiple assassinations of its leaders.

An Israeli airstrike killed Marwan Issa, deputy leader of Hamas’ military wing in March. Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas' former political leader, was assassinated in the blast in Tehran in July blamed on Israel.

Then in August, Israel said it killed Mohammed Deif, Hamas’ military chief and co-mastermind of the Oct. 7 attack, in an airstrike. Hamas has not confirmed that death.

Elgindy called Sinwar's killing a “major blow” to Hamas. But, he added, it was "not fatal since everyone is replaceable.”

Still, with so many leaders and commanders killed, at this point, it’s not clear who could fill his shoes.

Jeffery reported from Ramallah, West Bank. Associated Press writer Danica Kirka contributed from London.

Battleground North Carolina sees strong early voting, despite obstacles created by Helene

2024-10-18 05:58 Last Updated At：06:00

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Turnout for early in-person voting started strong Thursday in the presidential battleground of North Carolina, including in mountainous areas where Hurricane Helene destroyed property and upended lives but apparently did not dampen a fierce desire to participate in elections.

More than 400 early voting sites opened as scheduled for the 17-day period, including all but four of the 80 sites previously anticipated for the 25 western counties hardest hit by the storm, said State Board of Elections Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell. She credited election workers — including volunteers impacted by the severe weather — emergency management officials and utility crews.

“I know that thousands of North Carolinians lost so much in this storm. Their lives will never be the same after this tragedy,” Brinson Bell told reporters in Asheville, the region's population center and a city devastated by the historic rainfall. “But one thing Helene did not take from western North Carolinians is the right to vote in this important election.”

Helene’s arrival in the Southeast decimated remote towns throughout Appalachia and killed at least 246 people, with a little over half of the storm-related deaths in North Carolina. It was the deadliest hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland since Katrina in 2005.

Several dozen who died were from Buncombe County, where Asheville is located. Thousands in western North Carolina still lack power or clean running water.

But that didn't stop many from voting. About 60 people — most bundled up in jackets, hats and gloves for the chilly weather — lined up to cast a ballot at the South Buncombe Library in Asheville before the polls even opened at 9 a.m.

Among them was 77-year-old Joyce Rich, who said Helene made early voting more urgent for her. Rich said while her house was largely spared by the storm, she and her husband still need to do some work on it. Meanwhile, family members who don’t have power or water access are coming over to take showers.

“We decided, let’s just get it finished,” Rich said. “You never know what’s going to happen.”

In Polk County, an area along the South Carolina border that was also hit by Helene, the parking lot of the county elections board was so packed with early voters that an election worker was forced to direct traffic. To access the site, some people parked blocks away and walked down sidewalks still covered with small branches and other storm debris.

Voter Joanne Hemmingway, who spent 10 days without power in her home near Tryon, had always planned to vote early, and was thankful that election officials were able to still pull it off after Helene struck.

“Not having it? That never crossed my mind,” Hemmingway said.

In adjoining Henderson County, officials closed lanes on a major highway to help move election traffic, and golf carts ferried voters from an auto parts store parking lot to the county's lone voting site.

There, voter Michael Dirks said he found himself looking forward to voting after Helene, figuring it would be an important milestone in “getting back to normal, whatever that might turn out to be.”

In Wake County, home to the capital, Raleigh, several polling locations listed wait times of at least one hour late Thursday afternoon.

Thursday's sunny weather likely helped to make turnout “terrific” statewide, according to Brinson Bell, who suggested that the state could break a record for first-day early voting in all 100 counties.

Early in-person voting continues through Nov. 2. More than 3.6 million ballots — 65% of all ballots — were cast during early voting in the 2020 general election. In the 2016 election, 62% of all ballots were cast during early in-person voting.

Officials in the 25 counties affected by the storm were still evaluating Election Day polling locations, with the “vast majority” expected to be available to voters, Brinson Bell said. So far, officials have requested tents for about a dozen sites, she added.

Traditional absentee voting in North Carolina began a few weeks ago, with over 67,000 completed ballots turned in so far, election officials said. People displaced by Helene are being allowed to drop off their absentee ballot at any early voting site in the state.

The importance of early voting wasn’t lost upon the presidential campaigns of Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

On Thursday, Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz campaigned in the state, including an event in Durham with former President Bill Clinton. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley and others appeared on the “Team Trump Bus Tour” when it resumed Thursday in Rutherford County, which was among the hardest-hit areas.

The North Carolina ballot also includes races for governor, attorney general and several other statewide positions. All U.S. House and General Assembly seats also are up for reelection.

Collins reported from Columbus and Hendersonville, North Carolina. Associated Press writers Gary D. Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina; Christina A. Cassidy in Atlanta; and Christine Fernando in Chicago contributed to this report.