Will Viral Video Of Yahya Sinwar's Last Moments Backfire On Israel?

Moments after Israel announced the death of the Hamas chief, mastermind of the October 7 attack, the Israeli military released drone footage showing Yahya Sinwar's final moments.

Covered in dust, with his arm amputated, Sinwar is seen throwing a stick at the drone - a scene described by many on social media as his final act of defiance against Israel.

Photographs also emerged showing the body of a man resembling Sinwar, with a head wound, dressed in a military-style vest, half buried in the rubble of a demolished building.

Although Israel may have intended the video to serve as a symbolic end for a terrorist, one year after Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people in Israel, it has instead inspired many Gazans and supporters of Gaza.

"Israel made the mistake of publishing footage of Yahya Sinwar's last moments. Wearing a kufiyyeh and severely injured, he threw a stick at the drone filming him - a final act of defiance against the Zionist occupation. In his death, he became a legend," tweeted journalist and filmmaker Dan Cohen.

In fact, the video showing Sinwar sitting in a chair inside a bombed-out building contradicted the Israeli narrative that the Hamas leader was hiding in tunnels and using human shields.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously claimed that the 61-year-old Sinwar spent much of his time hiding in tunnels within Gaza, protected by bodyguards and a "human shield" of hostages taken from Israel.

When Sinwar was found by an Israeli patrol team in a chance encounter, his security team was small, and no hostages were present. After he fled into a building, Israeli forces tracked him with a drone before firing a shell into it.

"Images published by the Hebrew media made martyr Yahya Sinwar an eternal legend... He was martyred as a true resistance fighter, fighting till the end," commented a user on X.

Another remarked that the footage captured Sinwar's fierce spirit and dedication to his cause.

Despite eliminating its most-wanted target, Israel is aware that its mission is far from complete.

"Today, evil has suffered a heavy blow, but the task before us is not yet complete," Netanyahu stated when announcing Sinwar's death.

Since the 1990s, Israel has targeted every leader of Hamas, yet there has always been a successor, and the video released by Israel might galvanise the group and Sinwar's supporters rather than signal its collapse.

Among the possible successors are Mahmoud al-Zahar, a founding member of Hamas, and Yahya Sinwar's brother, Mohammed Sinwar.

It is also worth noting that Hamas still holds Israeli hostages, and dismantling its hierarchical structure will not be an easy task.

Even with Hezbollah, despite Israel assassinating its leader Hassan Nasrallah and several top commanders, the group did not fall apart. It is currently led by Hezbollah's deputy leader Naim Kassem.

"This is because the command is distributed across smaller units that continue operating, and because of the strong ideological and religious fervour driving organisations like Hamas and Hezbollah," a security expert explained to The Jerusalem Post.