War was never going to end without death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar may his nihilistic fanaticism die with him

There was cautious celebration in Israel on Thursday as news started to filter through that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar had been killed in Gaza.The mastermind of October 7th was — among some competition — the most fanatical leader in Hamas.In 2011, he was the most high-level of 1,027 Palestinian terrorists released from Israeli prisons in exchange for one kidnapped Israeli soldier.His release caused huge controversy in Israel.

Time would show why.Once back in Gaza he became notorious for his psychopathic violence — directed against Palestinians as well as Israelis.In 2016 he was involved in the torture and murder of Hamas’ own Mahmoud Ishtiwi, who Sinwar accused of homosexuality.He was always the fanatic’s fanatic.

In 2018 he gave an address to the citizens of Gaza in which he said: “We’ll take down the border [with Israel] and tear out their hearts from their bodies.”On October 7th last year he made his words a reality.For many Israelis, the killing of Sinwar was always the most important signal that the war against Hamas in Gaza could be over.Over the past year, the group’s ability to fire rockets into Israel had already been almost totally degraded.In the last 12 months of fighting, Hamas had already lost almost all of its senior commanders.But as long as Sinwar lived there could be no closure for the Israeli public.There are several immediate questions that will now be on peoples’ minds.

For the past year Sinwar has been believed to have surrounded himself in the tunnels of Gaza with some of the Israeli hostages stolen from their homes on the 7th.Are they still alive? And if so where are they?It is possible that Sinwar long ago lost track of which hostages were where, as Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups spread them around Gaza.Or perhaps he did, as was long believed, keep what he would have seen as the most valuable hostages (women and children) close around him.

He was reported to move around the tunnels of Gaza with these host...