TEL AVIV: Some Israelis felt relief with the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, even as the fate of nearly 100 hostages in Gaza still stirred anxiety.
Israeli authorities long accused Sinwar of masterminding the October 7 attack, the deadliest in the country’s history.
Hamas militants overran portions of southern Israel, shooting people, storming military bases and attacking a music festival where they killed at least 370 people.
It was an unprecedented attack that deeply shook the country.
For some, the killing of the October 7 architect brought some closure following a year of fighting in the Gaza Strip.
“It’s like closing the circle, bringing things full circle,” Dolev, a 29-year-old Tel Aviv resident, told AFP, asking to use only a single name.
“It feels like we’ve finished what we set out to do, and I hope this will also lead to an end,” he added, though since late September Israel has also been fighting on another front, with intensified air strikes and troops on the ground in Lebanon against Hamas ally Hezbollah.
“I hope it will lead to the end of the war, the return of the hostages, and for quieter days,” Dolev said.
The October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures that includes hostages killed in captivity.
Militants took 251 people hostage during the attack. Ninety-seven remain in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead.
The war triggered an Israeli military retaliation that has killed at least 42,500 people in Gaza, according to data from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures the UN has acknowledged as reliable.
As the military targeted Hamas fighters and leaders while searching for any sign of Sinwar, the war reduced large parts of the Palestinian territory to rubble.
Israeli commanders believed Sinwar hid in the maze of tunnels Hamas built beneath Gaza, while Israeli media had reported he was likely to be surrounded by hostages.
But when the Hamas chief was finally cornered and killed by the Israeli army, he was above ground with just two other fighters and no captives in sight, the military said.
Following the announcement of Sinwar’s death, Israelis along with leaders from across the West called on Israel to seize the moment to leverage a deal to release the remaining captives.
“To be honest, I only thought about the hostages, whether this will help move any deal forward, if there will now be a way to bring them back, or if, on the contrary, this is pushing a deal further away,” said Sharon Sborovsky, 31, from Tel Aviv.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met earlier Friday to discuss the aftermath of Sinwar’s death, including the fate of the hostages.
A statement released by the president’s office said that “a significant window of opportunity opened — including the promotion of the return of the hostages and the elimination of Hamas.”
Later in the day, Hamas said it had no plans to release the hostages until Israel ends its “aggression against our people in Gaza,” withdraws from the territory and frees jailed Palestinians.
And while the death of Sinwar marked a milestone in the war, many Israelis were not yet ready to celebrate.
“It is nice to have killed the leader of Hamas,” said Yonatan, a 34-year-old resident of Haifa.
“But we hope that all the hostages will come back, then we can start the party.”
Relief, anxiety in Israel after Sinwar’s killing
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Relief, anxiety in Israel after Sinwar’s killing
- “It’s like closing the circle, bringing things full circle,” Dolev, a 29-year-old Tel Aviv resident, told AFP
- “To be honest, I only thought about the hostages, whether this will help move any deal forward, if there will now be a way to bring them back,” said Sharon Sborovsky
Syria president vows those involved in church attack will face justice
The shooting and suicide bombing Sunday at the church in the working-class Dwelaa district of the Syrian capital killed 25 people and wounded 63, the health ministry said.
The authorities who took power after ousting longtime ruler Bashar Assad in December said the attacker was affiliated with the Daesh group, which has not yet claimed the attack.
“We promise... that we will work night and day, mobilizing all our specialized security agencies, to capture all those who participated in and planned this heinous crime and bring them to justice,” interim President Sharaa said in a statement.
The attack follows incidents of sectarian violence in recent months, with security one of the greatest challenges for the new authorities.
The attack “reminds us of the importance of solidarity, and unity of the government and the people in facing all that threatens our nation’s security and stability,” Sharaa said.
Interior Minister Anas Khattab and intelligence services chief Hussein Al-Salameh held an emergency meeting to discuss the investigations, the ministry said in a statement.
The attack was the first suicide bombing in a church in Syria since the country’s civil war erupted in 2011, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor.
It was also the first attack of its kind in the Syrian capital since Assad’s ouster.
A prayer service at the church is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. (1500 GMT).
Since the new authorities took power, the international community has repeatedly urged them to protect minorities and ensure their participation in Syria’s transition, particularly after the recent violence.
Interior ministry spokesman Noureddine Al-Baba said Sunday that “the security of places of worship is a red line, and all efforts will be made to ensure people’s freedom to perform their religious rites.”
Daesh “aims to sow sectarian division and incite all components of Syrian society to take up arms, seeking to show that the Syrian state is unable to protect its communities and citizens,” he told a press conference.
The top cleric of Syria’s Sunni Muslim majority, Grand Mufti Osama Al-Rifai, condemned acts of violence and terrorism in a statement Monday.
“We express our complete rejection of targeting places of worship and terrorizing believers,” he said.
Foreign condemnation of the attack continued to roll in on Monday.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkiye would not allow extremists to drag Syria back into chaos and instability, vowing that Turkiye would “continue to support the Syrian government’s fight against terrorism.”
Turkiye, which is close to the new authorities, has repeatedly offered its operational and military support to fight Daesh and other militant threats.
French President Emmanuel Macron also denounced the “horrible” attack, while the EU said it “stands in solidarity” with Syria in combating ethnic and religious violence.
“It is a grave reminder of the need to intensify efforts against the terrorist threat and to ensure the enduring defeat of Daesh and other terrorist organizations,” spokesperson Anouar El Anouni said.
Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis expressed anger after the attack on the Greek Orthodox Church, calling on the new authorities “to take concrete measures to protect all ethnic and religious minorities.”
Syria’s Christian community has shrunk from around one million before the war to fewer than 300,000 due to waves of displacement and emigration.
Daesh seized large swathes of Syrian and Iraqi territory in the early years of the civil war, declaring a cross-border “caliphate” in 2014.
The militants were territorially defeated in Syria 2019 but have maintained a presence, particularly in the country’s vast desert.
Jordanian king, Omani sultan discuss Iran-Israel conflict, call for peaceful dialogue
- They stressed the need to intensify coordination to extinguish the fires of conflict in Gaza and between Israel and Iran
- King Abdullah emphasized that peace in the region cannot be achieved without a just and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian issue
LONDON: Sultan Haitham bin Tariq of Oman and King Abdullah II of Jordan discussed the Iran-Israel conflict and the serious repercussions of the escalation of tensions in the region.
During a call on Monday, they stressed the need to intensify coordination to extinguish the fires of conflict in the Gaza Strip and the ongoing tensions resulting from Israeli actions against Iran, the Oman News Agency reported.
They also called for peaceful dialogue and negotiation to find political solutions to regional issues that align with international law, ensuring security and stability, the ONA added.
King Abdullah emphasized that peace in the region cannot be achieved without a just and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian issue based on a two-state solution, the Petra news agency reported.
The Iran-Israel conflict has escalated following US strikes on three nuclear sites inside Iran on Sunday. Tel Aviv and Tehran have exchanged attacks over the past 11 days, risking a full-scale war in the Middle East.
Israel targeting Tehran’s Evin prison, ‘agencies of repression’: minister
- President Donald Trump hinted Sunday at interest in changing Iran’s system of government
- Evin prison is often used to hold foreign nationals and Iranians that are seen by rights groups as political prisoners
Jerusalem: Israel targeted Tehran’s notorious Evin prison as well as the command centers of security agencies in Iran responsible for “maintaining the regime’s stability,” a minister and the military said Monday.
The Israeli military “is carrying out strikes of unprecedented force against regime targets and agencies of government repression in the heart of Tehran,” Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote on X as the Iran-Israel war raged for an 11th day.
These included Evin prison — “which holds political prisoners and regime opponents” — as well as the command centers of the domestic Basij militia and the powerful Revolutionary Guards, he added.
In a separate statement, the military said that it was hitting command centers of security forces including the Revolutionary Guards, a wing of the Iranian military.
“These forces... are responsible on behalf of the Iranian regime’s military for defending the homeland security, suppressing threats, and maintaining the regime’s stability,” it said in a statement.
Israel began its military campaign against Iran on June 13 with strikes on the country’s nuclear and missile facilities, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described as an “existential” threat for his country.
But the list of targets has widened since then, encompassing state television and the Iranian domestic security forces, raising speculation that Israel is seeking to topple Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
President Donald Trump hinted Sunday at interest in changing Iran’s system of government, despite several of his administration officials earlier stressing that US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites overnight on Saturday-Sunday did not have that goal.
“It’s not politically correct to use the term, ‘Regime Change,’ but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!!” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
AFP journalists heard explosions in northern Tehran on Monday and Iran’s Red Crescent reported a strike near its building in the area.
Evin prison is often used to hold foreign nationals and Iranians that are seen by rights groups as political prisoners.
Iran is believed to hold around 20 European nationals, many of whose cases have never been published, in what some Western governments describe as a strategy of hostage-taking aimed at extracting concessions.
The prison is a large, heavily fortified complex located in a northern district of the Iranian capital, and is notorious among activists for alleged rights abuses.
At least three waves of incoming Iranian missiles were reported by the Israeli military on Monday.
Katz, a hard-liner in Netanyahu’s government, added that “for every rocket fired at Israel’s home front, the Iranian dictator will be severely punished, and the attacks will continue with full force.”
Erdogan says won’t let terror ‘drag Syria back to instability’
ISTANBUL: Turkiye will not allow extremists to drag Syria back into chaos and instability, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday after a suicide attack killed 22 at a Damascus church.
“We will never allow our neighbor and brother Syria... be dragged into a new environment of instability through proxy terrorist organizations,” he said, vowing to support the new government’s fight against such groups.
Air raid sirens sound as Israel warns of incoming Iran missiles as conflict enters 11th day
- Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 950 people and wounded 3,450 others
- Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Canberra supports US strike on Iran
Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 950 people and wounded 3,450 others, a human rights group said Monday.
The Washington-based group Human Rights Activists offered the figures, which covers the entirety of Iran. It said of those dead, it identified 380 civilians and 253 security force personnel being killed.
Human Rights Activists, which also provided detailed casualty figures during the 2022 protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, crosschecks local reports in the Islamic Republic against a network of sources it has developed in the country.
Iran has not been offering regular death tolls during the conflict and has minimized casualties in the past. On Saturday, Iran’s Health Ministry said some 400 Iranians had been killed and another 3,056 wounded in the Israeli strikes.
Tehran vows to avenge attack on nuclear sites
Tehran threatened on Monday to inflict “serious” damage in retaliation for US strikes on the Islamic republic’s nuclear facilities, as the Iran-Israel war entered its 11th day despite calls for de-escalation.
Aerial assaults meanwhile raged on, with air raid sirens sounding across Israel and AFP journalists reporting several blasts were heard over Jerusalem.
The Israeli military said it had struck missile sites in western Iran as well as “six Iranian regime airports” across the country, destroying fighter jets and helicopters.
President Donald Trump said US warplanes used “bunker buster” bombs to target sites in Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz, boasting the strikes had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
Other officials said it was too soon to assess the true impact on Iran’s nuclear program, which Israel and some Western states consider an existential threat.
Iranian armed forces spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaghari said on state television that the US “hostile act,” following more than a week of Israeli bombardments, would “pave the way for the extension of war in the region.”
“The fighters of Islam will inflict serious, unpredictable consequences on you with powerful and targeted (military) operations,” he warned.
Iran foreign minister to meet key ally Putin
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was due to hold “important” talks with key ally Vladimir Putin on Monday, 48 hours after a major US attack on Iran’s key nuclear facilities.
Moscow is a crucial backer of Tehran, but has not swung forcefully behind its partner since Israel launched a wave of attacks on June 13, strikes that triggered Iran to respond with missiles and drones.
While Russia condemned the Israeli and US strikes, it has not offered military help and has downplayed its obligations under a sweeping strategic partnership agreement signed with Tehran just months ago.
“In this new dangerous situation ... our consultations with Russia can certainly be of great importance,” Russian state media reported Araghchi as saying after landing in Moscow.
Australia says it supports US strike, calls for return to diplomacy
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Monday that Canberra supported the United States strike on Iran and called for de-escalation and a return to diplomacy.
“The world has long agreed that Iran cannot be allowed to get a nuclear weapon and we support action to prevent that,” Albanese told reporters in Canberra on Monday.
Albanese said “the information has been clear” that Iran had enriched uranium to 60 percent and “there is no other explanation for it to reach 60, other than engaging in a program that wasn’t about civilian nuclear power.”
The International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog that inspects Iran’s nuclear facilities, reported on May 31 that Iran had enough uranium enriched to up to 60 percent, if enriched further, for nine nuclear weapons.
“Had Iran complied with the very reasonable requests that were made, including by the IAEA, then circumstances would have been different,” said Albanese, referring to limitations on enrichment.
