Sameera Casmod | sameerac@radioislam.co.za
21 October 2024 | 12:12 SAST
4-minute read
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) last week released video footage shortly after announcing the killing of Yahya Sinwar. The video, which showed the last moments of the Hamas leader’s life, was followed by a detailed report of the events leading to Sinwar’s martyrdom.
Israel’s version of events, while intended to provide evidence that the man they claimed was one of the main architects of the October 7 resistance effort had indeed been killed, has monumentally backfired. It has served instead to create the image of a defiant resistance hero who achieved martyrdom while fighting to the end. Despite desperate attempts at damage control, Israel has failed to depict Sinwar in any light except as a valiant, courageous symbol of Palestinian resistance.
“The Israelis have essentially become their own worst enemy by releasing the footage of his last moments, which has immortalised Sinwar as a fearless freedom fighter,” Ebrahim Moosa said on Radio Islam’s Palestine Report earlier today.
The account provided by Israel alleges that the IOF detected movement approximately 100m away from where their troops were stationed while involved in supposed “mop-up” operations. Upon investigation, they discovered resistance fighters and fired at them. Sinwar’s arm was injured in the melee, and he left a trail of blood as he went into a building in the vicinity. As the IOF advanced on the building, still unaware of Sinwar’s identity, Sinwar threw a grenade at the soldiers, after which the enemy deployed a drone for further investigation.
“They found a man with his arm injured, his face covered,” Moulana Moosa said.
Sinwar threw a stick to knock the drone down. After withdrawing, the IOF fired at the building with shells from a tank cannon and machine guns, which ended Sinwar’s life.
“A day later only, according to the Israelis, they sent another drone into the debris of this building, and that’s when they noticed a man who resembled Sinwar,” Moulana Moosa said, adding that Sinwar’s body is being held captive by Israel to be used as “another bargaining chip in negotiations.
Analysts suggest that Sinwar’s martyrdom will not have a major effect on resistance operations, with Hamas potentially – if they have not already- moving to a decentralised military structure, where decisions are made by local commanders on the ground.
It is expected that a political figure who is from Gaza but resides outside the enclave will replace Sinwar as leader of Hamas. Alternatively, a deputy commander will remain in place until elections, which are due to be held soon. However, it is expected that the election will be delayed due to the ongoing genocide.
Sinwar’s death is unlikely to have any effect on ending Israel’s onslaught on Gaza and Lebanon, particularly after Israel expanded its initial goal to eliminate only Hamas to include the elimination of all Palestinian resistance and occupy the strip.
“Now the Israelis have expanded their goals in this war, which is to eliminate any traces of Palestinian resistance and transfer as many Palestinians as possible and move their settlers into the Gaza Strip,” Moulana Moosa explained.
Pointing to the ferocity of resistance efforts, Moulana Moosa reported the recent elimination of Colonel Ehsan Daqsa, the commander of the IOF’s 401st armoured brigade, who was killed by an explosive device in the Jabaliya area in northern Gaza.
Reports indicate that he alighted from his tank and approached an observation point on foot. The site had been rigged with explosive devices, which killed Daqsa and seriously injured the deputy commander of the 162nd division and the commander of the brigade’s 52nd battalion. Daqsa is the highest-ranking Israeli official to have been eliminated in Gaza since the beginning of the genocide.
Meanwhile, the genocide continues throughout Gaza, including an extreme campaign of extermination in northern Gaza. Reports paint a grim picture of ethnic cleansing taking shape according to what has been dubbed the ‘General’s Plan’.
“The ‘General’s Plan’ to empty northern Gaza is in top tier, reaching frightening levels. There’s a horrific humanitarian disaster. Bodies are piling up in hospitals. Injuries are now being treated according to age and the severity of injuries, and others are just being left to die because of a lack of capacity,” Moulana Moosa reported. “Corpses are filling the alleys and roads, and northern Gaza is being fired from all sides,” he added.
Hamas leaders are urging Arab and Islamic states to surround American and Israeli embassies to exert pressure on those nations to end the war.
Meanwhile, a report based on interviews with Israeli soldiers reveals a severe loss of morale and exhaustion among the fighters, raising questions about Israel’s ability to achieve its military goals, both in Gaza and Lebanon.
“In September, the Nahal Brigade began its 11th round of combat in Gaaza, but out of a platoon of 30 soldiers, only 6 showed up- the rest claimed medical exemptions,” the report read.
The report includes an interview with one Israeli fighter’s mother, who said, “They keep going back to the same buildings they’ve already cleared, only to find them booby-trapped again. In the Zaytoun neighbourhood alone, they’ve been there three times. They understand it’s pointless.”
The onset of depletion, which began in April as the war dragged on and soldiers’ purpose started to fade, has since continued to dwindle. The main cause is that occupation forces return to areas they have cleared, only to find that traps have been set for them, leading to feelings of hopelessness, fatigue and demotivation.
Listen to the Palestine Report on Sabaahul Muslim with Moulana Habib Bobat.
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