The death of Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader who was believed to be the mastermind of the Oct. 7 attack, provides a new opening for the United States to meaningfully push for a cease-fire and hostage release in Gaza and for the de-escalation of violence across the Middle East.
While Mr. Sinwar was far from alone in resisting an agreement — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has repeatedly and openly undermined cease-fire efforts for months — his death can and must create new momentum to end this catastrophic and steadily widening war.
Born in the Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza in 1962, Mr. Sinwar turned to militant activism in the early 1980s, and was imprisoned at least three times by Israel in that decade. He was sentenced to multiple life terms for the murder of two Israeli soldiers and four Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel, and released from prison in 2011 as part of the prisoner swap for the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Mr. Sinwar became Hamas’s leader in Gaza in 2017 and, with the Oct. 7 attacks, clearly hoped to set off a wider war against Israel. In the months that followed, while he was known to support an agreement for a permanent end to the war, he steadfastly refused the imposition of any new Israeli conditions.
A majority of Hamas’s senior leadership now resides outside of Gaza, mostly in Doha, Qatar, making it potentially easier to strike a deal. But for such a deal to be durable, it would need to really end the war, not simply start a new chapter of an Israeli military presence in Gaza.
If Mr. Sinwar truly was the obstacle to a cease-fire agreement that U.S. officials — including President Biden — have claimed, that obstacle is now gone. The United States and its partners have a window to halt the downward spiral to regional conflagration. The Biden administration must press the Netanyahu government and remaining Hamas officials to end the war in Gaza, return hostages to their families, surge humanitarian aid into the territory and urgently take other steps to ensure that Gazans have adequate shelter, supplies and security as winter approaches.
All of that will require fresh diplomatic pressure on both sides, including a willingness for the Biden administration to withhold offensive arms to Israel if it does not cooperate. The United States should simultaneously renew its abandoned push for an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon that allows civilians to safely return to their homes on both sides of the border. In furtherance of those aims, the Biden administration should also urge Israel to refrain from potentially escalatory strikes on Iran.
Hawkish voices are raising arguments now in both Jerusalem and Washington that Israel should press its advantage by further broadening the war. But U.S. and Israeli leaders and policymakers should have the strategic wisdom to resist the temptation for such overreach. (Indeed, statements from Vice President Kamala Harris and other administration officials have indicated that they see this as a moment to de-escalate.)
As President Biden said nearly five months ago when he announced his cease-fire proposal, Israel has already achieved its major security objective of ensuring that Hamas is no longer capable of carrying out another Oct. 7-type attack. Unfortunately, after months of intense diplomatic effort, that deal withered in part because of Mr. Biden’s confounding refusal to impose any costs on Mr. Netanyahu despite acknowledging that the Israeli leader was possibly prolonging the war for his own domestic political purposes. Even more troubling has been the Biden administration’s tacit support for the Israeli incursion into Lebanon, apparently driven by the false assumption that military violence will reshuffle the regional security deck in a way that is advantageous to Israel and other American allies.
History shows that this is folly. The only certain destination on that path is more death, destruction and chaos.
There’s no question that Israel’s decapitation of Hezbollah’s leadership in Lebanon in recent weeks was an impressive tactical feat — though, as in Gaza, with enormous destruction, death and displacement of civilians. Mr. Netanyahu seems to believe he can administer a decisive blow against the Middle East’s so-called Axis of Resistance and its central node in Tehran. But no one has ever doubted Israel’s tactical capabilities; its problem has always been turning those victories into strategic wins.
On the other hand, while Iran’s leadership has been dealt a series of serious and humiliating defeats, it has a record of turning short-term setbacks into strategic regional gains. Historically, Iran has been able to exploit the blundering overreach and hubris of its enemies, and has had the mystifyingly great fortune of adversaries who continually make such blunders. Israel in Lebanon in the early 1980s, the United States in Iraq in the 2000s, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in Yemen in the 2010s: All of these costly interventions provided opportunities for Iran to build new partnerships and significantly increase its strategic depth.
The destruction, pain and hatred unleashed by Oct. 7 and the Gaza war will take a generation to heal, probably more. Ending this war that has left tens of thousands dead and hundreds of thousands more displaced, wounded, sick, orphaned or starving is both a moral and strategic necessity.
It is imperative to seize this moment and move off the current path toward larger conflict that could imperil millions more to one that seeks to face and resolve the underlying and intertwined conflicts in the region. Only the United States has the power, the relationships and influence to steer us toward that path. Amid the chaos and destruction in the region, President Biden must use it.
The post With Sinwar Dead, We Must End the War in Gaza appeared first on New York Times.
