Yahya Sinwar’s Death Raises Hopes for Peace, But Netanyahu Says "The War Isn't Over"

News broke Thursday that the Israeli military has killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in a southern Gaza raid. Sinwar was the mastermind of the October 7 attacks and had served as the driver of Hamas’ position in the largely fruitless cease-fire talks that followed.

Israeli and American officials had been hunting for Sinwar since those attacks and had gotten close to capturing or killing him on multiple occasions prior to this week. In January, they missed him by a matter of days after raiding a tunnel where he’d been hiding. Though he escaped, they still came away with key documents and roughly $1 million worth of Israeli shekels that Sinwar was forced to leave behind.

Given the magnitude of Sinwar’s death, Israeli officials took quite a while to confirm that the Hamas leader had, in fact, been killed. They took his body back to a laboratory in Israel to compare DNA samples, along with fingerprints and dental records, with their records from when Sinwar was their prisoner for more than two decades. He’d previously been released while serving four life sentences as part of a prisoner exchange in 2011.

Given that Sinwar had largely insisted upon conditions that were beyond the pale of Israeli consideration in any cease-fire negotiations, his death has raised hopes among some that an end to the war could be possible. Most seem skeptical of that outcome—and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israelies, “The war, my dear ones, is not over yet”—but there are fewer obstacles to peace now than at the start of the week. And, given the reports of rapidly deteriorating conditions in Gaza, a quick end could indeed prove to be a blessing.

Will the US Continue to Support Israel?

Earlier this week, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken sent a letter to Yoav Gallant—Israel’s Minister of Defense—in which they threatened to cut off future military aid unless Israel allowed more humanitarian aid into Gaza in the next thirty days. They defined “more aid” as:

At least 350 aid trucks per day through all four major crossings.
The opening of a fifth additional crossing.
Allowing people in the humanitarian zone on the coast to move inland before winter.
Humanitarian pauses across Gaza to allow for greater access to vaccinations and medical treatments.
A new channel of communication between Israel and the US to “raise and discuss civilian harm incidents.”

While aid shipments improved earlier this year, the latest reports claim that they have fallen by more than 50 percent from their peak. The UN humanitarian office claims that only one of its 54 efforts to get into Northern Gaza were approved earlier this month, and current projections are that nine in ten Gazans will face “acute food scarcity” in the coming months unless something changes.

For their part, COGAT—Israel’s Coordination of Government Activities and Territories task force—denied that any border crossings in the north have been closed and countered by noting that they have allowed the international community to bring 1,064,820 tons of humanitarian aid through its crossings since the start of the war, including roughly 824,078 tons of food. And much of that aid has been seized by Hamas rather than going to the Palestinian people.

Still, the present food crisis in Gaza is less about what Israel has done than what it is doing at the moment. And in that regard, there is a dire need for improvement.

After all, no matter how you feel about the Gazan people, their response to Hamas, or the litany of other lenses through which this war can be seen, we must never forget that God loves them and calls us to do the same.

Serving Christ By Serving Others

In one of Christ’s final teachings before the crucifixion, he told his followers a parable about sheep, goats, and the final judgment (Matthew 25:31–46). His primary point in the story is that when God gathers all nations before his throne, how he will see us will hinge—at least in part—on how we had treated the “least of these.” Jesus goes so far as to say that the care we rendered to the poor, sick, and strangers in our midst was rendered to him as well.

As Russell Moore recently pointed out, our job in responding to this passage is not to parse out who belongs to the least of these but, rather, to simply serve the people God puts in our lives to serve. That responsibility should impact not only how we treat people but also how we see them.

While few of us will likely have the chance to serve those suffering in Gaza, knowing that Jesus would want us to care for them if we did should inform the way we see their suffering.

That doesn’t mean we should justify the actions of those who have sided with Hamas in their atrocities or that we should forget why this war started in the first place. But it does mean that we should not allow any such questions to block out the fact that every single individual fighting over bread or wondering if their home will be the next one destroyed as collateral damage is made in the image of God and loved by our heavenly Father.

And the same is true for the least of these whom the Lord has given you an opportunity to help.

So, when those chances come, what will you do?

How you answer will reveal quite a bit about where you stand with God today.

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote of the Day:

“Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” — Jesus (Matthew 25:40)

Published Date: October 18, 2024

Ryan Denison, PhD, is the Senior Editor for Theology at Denison Forum. Ryan writes The Daily Article every Friday and contributes writing and research to many of the ministry’s productions. He holds a PhD in church history from BH Carroll Theological Institute after having earned his MDiv at Truett Seminary. He’s authored The Path to Purpose, What Are My Spiritual Gifts?, How to Bless God by Blessing Others, 7 Deadly Sins, and has contributed writing or research to every Denison Forum book.

The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of CrosswalkHeadlines.

For more from the Denison Forum, please visit www.denisonforum.org.