Photo: Mohammed Abed Archives Agence France-Presse A Hamas official said Tuesday that the designation of Yahya Sinouar sent a “strong message” to Israel, which considers him one of the masterminds of the October 7 attack.
Published yesterday at 1:53 PM Updated yesterday at 5:19 PM
Hamas announced Tuesday that its Gaza leader, Yahya Sinwar, one of Israel’s most wanted men, had been named the new head of the movement, after the assassination of his predecessor, which revived fears of a military escalation in the Middle East.
Iran, Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah have accused Israel of assassinating Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of the Palestinian Islamist movement, on July 31 in Tehran, and have vowed to avenge him.
On Tuesday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah vowed to retaliate against Israel “whatever the consequences” after the assassination and that of the Lebanese Islamist movement's military leader, Fouad Shokr, who was killed on July 30 in an Israeli strike near Beirut.
Hezbollah and Iran are “obliged to retaliate,” Nasrallah said in a speech broadcast live. Hezbollah will retaliate “alone or as part of a unified response” from Iran and its allies in the region, he said.
A little earlier, the low-altitude overflight of Beirut by Israeli military aircraft, which broke the sound barrier, sowed panic in the Lebanese capital.
A Hamas official said Tuesday that the designation of Yahya Sinouar sent a “strong message” to Israel, ten months after the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, triggered by the unprecedented attack carried out by the Palestinian movement on Israeli soil on October 7.
The Israeli army and authorities accuse Yahya Sinouar of being one of the masterminds of the attack .
A few minutes after the announcement of his appointment, a salvo of rockets was fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, claimed by the armed wing of Hamas.
“The appointment of arch-terrorist Yahya Sinwar as head of Hamas, replacing Ismail Haniyeh, is yet another reason to eliminate him quickly and wipe this despicable organization off the map,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on X.
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000Tensions in the region have redoubled following the assassinations of Ismail Haniyeh and Fuad Shokr, raising fears of a military escalation between Israel on one side and Iran and allied groups in Lebanon, Yemen, Syria and Iraq on the other.
Israel has not commented on Ismail's death Haniyeh, but had promised after the October 7 attack to destroy Hamas, which has been in power in Gaza since 2007 and which he considers a terrorist organization, like the United States, Canada and the European Union.
The Israeli army, however, claimed responsibility for the strike that killed Fouad Shokr, who Israel says was responsible for an attack that killed 12 children and teenagers on July 27 in the Syrian Golan Heights, which Israel annexed. Hezbollah had denied any involvement.
Israel has been on high alert for nearly a week, awaiting the response promised by Iran and its allies.
However, according to a European diplomat based in Tel Aviv, the absence of a change in the directives given by the army to civilians means, in theory, that an attack is not so imminent.
Faced with the risk of a conflagration, the international community has entered into a race against time. The United States is working “day and night” to prevent an escalation, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday.
Diplomatic contacts increased again Tuesday, ahead of a meeting scheduled for Wednesday of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
US President Joe Biden spoke by phone with the Emir of Qatar, the main mediator in the Gaza war, about “efforts to de-escalate … including through an immediate ceasefire and an agreement on the release of hostages,” according to the White House.
Biden also had a phone conversation with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
“There is the possibility of war between us and Israel. […] We cannot deny it,” said Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, who was in Cairo on Tuesday.
Since the start of the war in Gaza, Hezbollah has been exchanging fire with the Israeli army almost daily along the border separating southern Lebanon from northern Israel. In this context, several countries have called on their nationals to leave Lebanon and airlines have suspended their connections to Beirut.
On Tuesday, six Hezbollah fighters were killed in Israeli strikes launched on southern Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Islamist movement, which announced that it had targeted several Israeli positions.
Regional authorities in northern Israel called on the population on Tuesday to stay close to shelters after Hezbollah rocket fire.
Seven Americans were also injured Monday in a rocket attack on a military base in Iraq, according to a U.S. official. The Pentagon blamed the attack on “Iranian-aligned militias.”
Meanwhile, the Israeli army continues its bombardments on the besieged Gaza Strip.
An Israeli drone strike killed one person in Deir el-Balah, in the center of the Palestinian territory, according to rescuers.
“We need stronger collective action from the world” to guarantee the safety of Gazans, Hassan Morajea, regional adviser in Deir el-Balah for the NGO Norwegian Refugee Council, said Tuesday.
The Israeli military announced Tuesday that the last person missing after the October 7 attack had died. The attack left 1,198 people dead, mostly civilians, according to a tally by Agence France-Presse based on official Israeli data.
Of the 251 people abducted, 111 are still being held in Gaza, 39 of whom have died, according to the military.
In response, Israel launched an offensive that has so far killed 39,653 people, according to data from the Health Ministry of the Hamas-run Gaza government, which does not provide details on the number of civilians and fighters killed.
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