Israeli aircraft scattered leaflets over southern Gaza on Saturday featuring an image of slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, alongside a message declaring “Hamas will no longer rule Gaza”, mirroring recent statements by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The leaflet campaign coincided with Israeli military strikes that killed at least 32 people across the Gaza Strip and intensified a siege around hospitals in Jabalia, northern Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials.
Residents of Khan Younis in southern Gaza reported that the Arabic-language leaflets read: “Whoever drops the weapon and hands over the hostages will be allowed to leave and live in peace.”
The text echoed Netanyahu’s statement on Thursday following Sinwar’s death at the hands of Israeli forces operating in Rafah, near the Egyptian border, on Wednesday.
Who was Sinwar
Sinwar, 61, was named the overall chief of Hamas in August after the killing of his predecessor Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. He previously served as the group’s political leader inside the Gaza Strip since 2017.
Born in Khan Younis refugee camp in 1962, Sinwar founded Hamas’ security service, Majd, in the late 1980s. He spent much of his life in Israeli prisons and was released in 2011 as part of a prisoner exchange.
Israeli security agencies believe Sinwar masterminded the October 7 attacks on southern Israel, which killed over 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage.
In response, Israel has killed at least 42,438 Palestinians, with 99,246 wounded. It has also killed around 3,000 in Lebanon and Syria, while around 3 million people have been displaced from their homes as a result of the war.
Experts, governments, United Nations agencies, and non-governmental organisations have accused Israel of carrying out genocide against the Palestinian people.
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