Chronicle of a Death Foretold

Some reflections on the life and death of Yahya Sinwar

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Since the moment that news of Hamas’ October 7 attacks against Israel emerged, I have been expecting to hear word of the death of Yahya Sinwar. This week, the long-expected news finally came, when images of Sinwar’s lifeless body began to emerge on social media. Rather than being discovered in a tunnel surrounded by hostages, or dying away from the public gaze, buried under a pile of rubble from an airstrike, Sinwar appeared to have taken to the battlefield himself in his final days.

Video released by an Israeli drone showed the Hamas commander in combat fatigues, covered in dust, reclining in a chair with a wounded hand, before throwing a projectile at the drone in a last act of defiance before his life ended. Reports in Israeli media suggested that Sinwar had taken part in an ambush before he died, alongside several of his comrades. It was a cinematic ending that cemented his popular legacy with the Arab public, though the release of the video was intended to denigrate him.

It is not really my position to make moral judgements on individuals, and for the most part I endeavor to treat their actions analytically. In the case of Sinwar, however, given that his legacy is likely to long outlive him, I do feel it is warranted to provide an evaluation.

Sinwar and his family were victims of the ethnic cleansing that accompanied the creation of the State of Israel, and the course of his life was irrevocably marked by this reality. Throughout his life, he showed a ruthless and unshakeable devotion to resisting what he saw as this injustice. After his involvement in the murder of alleged Palestinian collaborators with the occupation, Sinwar remained steadfastly committed to the cause over decades in Israeli prisons, during which time he taught himself Hebrew and studied Israeli society down its minutiae. This commitment to resistance remained ironclad right up to his last moments on earth, which he spent fighting the Israeli military in Gaza. Setting aside political context and judging him as an individual – or even as an adversary – there is obviously something to commend in such strength of will.

At the same time, Sinwar bore responsibility for his acts as a political leader over millions of people in Gaza. His movement did not consult the people of Gaza before launching the October 7 attacks, despite knowing that Israel would inevitably react in a savage manner that would destroy many of their lives. Likewise, the attacks themselves were carried out in a manner that disregarded the laws of war and targeted Israeli civilians indiscriminately, cementing Sinwar’s legacy as an immoral terrorist in the eyes of his enemies.

It is possible that these excesses were not intentionally commanded by Hamas leadership, though their gravity would not be diminished by that fact. Either way, in evaluating his legacy it is important to know the reality. Reporting by the Wall Street Journal on intercepted communications from Sinwar suggested that he did not order or approve of massacres or kidnapping of civilians that took place on October 7. “Things went out of control,” Sinwar said in one of his messages, according to the WSJ, adding that he was “referring to gangs taking civilian women and children as hostages.” Sinwar reportedly added, even more pointedly, “People got caught up in this, and that should not have happened.”

Regardless, there is a sense of command responsibility that one must bear when they hold power and when your decisions impact the lives of so many. The International Criminal Court recognized as much when charging Sinwar with war crimes over his role in the attacks.

In the aftermath of Sinwar’s death, social media debates on his legacy and the style of his demise erupted online as expected. In this war of narratives, a number of old videos and interviews were shared, including those in which Sinwar stated that he had been unafraid to die for years, and that he had been fighting for the freedom of the youth of Gaza in general, regardless of their political affiliation.

A representative extract of this comes from a 2018 interview that Sinwar gave to Italian reporter Francesa Borri:

Sinwar: "I am not the leader of a militia, I'm from Hamas. And that's it. I am the Gaza leader of Hamas, of something much more complex than a militia—a national liberation movement. And my main duty is to act in the interest of my people: to defend it and its right to freedom and independence. You are a war correspondent. Do you like war?"

FB: Not at all.

Sinwar: "And so why should I? Whoever knows what war is, doesn't like war."

FB: But you have been fighting for all your life.

Sinwar: "And I am not saying I won't fight anymore, indeed. I am saying that I don't want war anymore. I want the end of the siege. You walk to the beach at sunset, and you see all these teenagers on the shore chatting and wondering what the world looks like across the sea. What life looks like. It's breaking. And should break everybody. I want them free."

FB: Borders have been basically sealed-off for 11 years. Gaza doesn't even have water anymore, only sea water. How is living here?

Sinwar: "What do you think? 55 percent of the population is under 15. We are not speaking of terrorists, we are speaking of kids. They have no political affiliation. They have just fear. I want them free."

So what does it all mean? In recent years, I’ve found it increasingly difficult to render universal judgements about individuals and decided to leave such matters to God. Whether Sinwar was a noble martyr to the resistance or a terrorist war criminal observably seems to be based on ones perspective, with simultaneous celebrations in Tel Aviv over his death alongside mourning processions in Amman and Tehran attesting to these sincerely held differences of opinion.

What I will say though is that political leaders ought to be judged by their works. On that score, it is impossible to say that Sinwar’s rule over Gaza has left it a happier or more prosperous place. Instead of earnestly seeking political unity with other Palestinian factions, after taking power Hamas chose a path of solitary defiance that plunged the Gazan population headlong into a conflict with Israel from which the group could not protect them. Wisdom is a component of justice, and the wisdom of such an approach seemed sorely lacking.

Instead of direct confrontation, a policy of lawfare targeting the occupation of the West Bank, mixed with appeals to segments of a visibly divided Israeli population, would have been more wise than the path that Hamas took. Their approach has now resulted in the wholesale destruction of the finest city held by Palestinians, an escalated and embittered conflict with the Israeli populace, and a future that now appears to be in serious question.

On that point, while one can set aside judgements of him as an individual, I do not think that lionizing the path that Sinwar took will result in more productive outcomes. We are only at the start of an unhappy new era of violence, and Sinwar will not be the last person to lose his life as a result.