The military leader of Hamas has said he believes he has gained the upper hand over Israel and that the spiralling civilian death toll in Gaza would work in the militant group’s favor, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal, citing leaked messages the newspaper said it had seen.
“We have the Israelis right where we want them,” Yahya Sinwar told other Hamas leaders recently, according to one of the messages, the WSJ reported Monday. In another, Sinwar is said to have described civilian deaths as “necessary sacrifices” while citing past independence-related conflicts in countries like Algeria.
The messages reported by the WSJ offer a rare glimpse into the mind of the man steering Hamas’ thinking on the war and suggest an uncompromising determination to continue fighting, regardless of the human cost.
Sinwar’s alleged comments emerged as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was on another tour through the Middle East to push all sides to agree to the latest proposal. Speaking from Tel Aviv on Tuesday, Blinken made it clear that the US believes Sinwar is the ultimate decision-maker.
“I think there are there those who have influenced, but influence is one thing, actually getting a decision made is the is another thing. I don’t think anyone other than the Hamas leadership in Gaza actually are the ones who can make decisions,” Blinken said, adding that “that is what we are waiting on.”
Blinken said that Hamas’ answer to the proposal will reveal the group’s priorities.
“We await the answer from Hamas in and that will speak volumes about what they want, what they’re looking for, who they’re looking after,” Blinken said. “Are they looking after one guy who may be for now safe … I don’t know, 10 stories underground somewhere in Gaza, while the people that he purports to represent continue to suffer in a crossfire of his own making? Or will he do what’s necessary to actually move this to a better place, to help end the suffering of people to help bring real security to Israelis and Palestinians alike.”
In early messages to ceasefire negotiators, Sinwar seemed “surprised” by the brutality of the October 7 attack on Israel.
“Things went out of control,” Sinwar said in one of his messages, according to the WSJ, adding he was “referring to gangs taking civilian women and children as hostages.”
“People got caught up in this, and that should not have happened,” Sinwar said, according to the WSJ.
It’s almost like there’s a well understood reason for why people become terrorists.
Seriously who’s surprised by this
Yes, they believe in a different fake man in the sky from the other ones, and that justifies their actions. Religion is poison for the mind.
Yeah it has nothing to do with seeing your family starve day after day until they’re murdered. They have the stupid disease so they’re stupid, that’s the only reason.
So you’re just gonna ignore the reason why they fight to begin with? So they can just do exactly the same thing again in a year or two cause the primary reason remain?
They can’t coexist with make-belief-reasons to kill each other.
“I want your land” isn’t a make-believe reason.
…and why do they fight over the land? Could it maybe have a little something to do about the various nonsense they believe that was made up by un-scientific societies from 1500-3000 years ago?
Stop trying to make it a recent conflict over something logical when it clearly isn’t.
Tell me more about how you look down on the savages, civilized man.
Sure, go for insults when you can’t argue the point.
Only thing I see is you insulting and belittling an oppressed people currently living through a genocide carried out by a settler colonialist entity.
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all have the same fake man and in the sky. They’re fighting over who his message boys were…but that really isn’t very relevant in the current situation.
I mean yeah, but… No?
Their stories are different. It’s like saying that three fan fics by three different authors that use a select few “same characters” actually have the same characters… When they behave in ways that are incompatable with the other fan fics.
That’s kinda the problem. That and geography. They all think the same patch of land is super important. And the land around that is important, too.
This is one of the ways that those "same characters (gods) " were incompatible.
When you back away from it all, it’s the God of Abram/Abraham. But the details matter to adherents. And the details are quite different.
The us and them created by those stories is essential to understanding this. And the land grabs. And the killings. And the rationale.