Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered an immunity deal to Hamas members after the killing of his leader, Yahya Sinwar, in the southern city of Rafah.
Concretely, he said that whoever lays down their arms and help return the hostages taken on the October 7 attacks will be allowed to leave the Gaza Strip unharmed.
The message partly echoes that of his Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, who earlier called on Gaza residents to release the hostages.
"Residents of Gaza, the end of the man that got you into a mess has come. Get out with the hostages, release them and surrender," Galant said in a televised statement published on his X account.
יחיא סינוואר חוסל וסיים את חייו, מוכה, נרדף ונמלט.
— יואב גלנט - Yoav Gallant (@yoavgallant) October 17, 2024
חיסולו הוא מסר ברור למשפחות הנופלים והחטופים - אנו עושים הכל ונמשיך לעשות.
תושבי עזה, סופו של האיש שהמית עליכם אסון, הגיע, צאו עם החטופים, שחררו אותם והיכנעו. pic.twitter.com/PkUPslSPw2
Israeli politicians and analysts are claiming that the killing of Sinwar could catalyze a breakthrough in the war and the release of the 101 hostages left in Gaza, a third of whom are presumed dead.
However, the organization that represents the hostages' families and loved ones were not as optimistic, even expressing their concern that they could be summarily executed as vengeance for the killing.
"While acknowledging the significant achievement, the families of the hostages express grave concern for the fate of 101 men, women and children still held captive by Hamas, and urge leveraging this major achievement into an immediate deal to secure hostages' return," the organization said in a statement.
"We call on the Israeli government, world leaders, and mediating countries to leverage the military achievement into a diplomatic one by pursuing an immediate agreement for the release of all 101 hostages: the living for rehabilitation and the murdered for proper burial," it adds.
In an interview with local outlet Maariv, Daniel Lifshitz, the son of Oded Lifshitz, who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7 last year, expressed satisfaction with the development, but also pleaded to the Israeli government to focus on the return of the hostages.
"There is no person in the State of Israel, and certainly not from Kibbutz Nir Oz, who would like to see Sinwar among the living," he said. "The absolute victory will be the return of the kidnapped. The only assessment that should be in the cabinet is how we now bring [back] the abductees."
Sinwar was killed after Israeli forces randomly encountered him during a patrol. Troops spotted a group of armed people hiding in a nearby building.
They then instructed a tank, part of the L Company squad, to fire on the building. The impact seems to have fatally wounded Sinwar, something that was later confirmed by the 450th infantry battalion upon entering the building. Troops didn't know the Hamas chief was part of the group, something they only found out after searching through the rubble.
Sinwar, the political and military leader of Hamas, took over leadership of the terror group after the July assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Iran. He is believed to be the mastermind of the October 7 attacks that left 1,200 killed and 250 abducted.
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