Guy Sarfati was skeptical when he first heard news of Sinwar’s possible death, but as time went by the 26-year-old university student became excited at the idea of a victory against Hamas.
“We’ve been waking up each day in Israel to terrible news, hearing about another soldier killed or another hostage being killed in Gaza,” Sarfati told NBC News. “So, finally, we have some positive news to wake up to.”
But the immediate question that followed was: What does this mean for the hostages? Sarfati hopes that Sinwar’s death can be used as leverage.
“It raises immediate concerns, obviously,” he said. “But I hope this could be a turning point in the war in the south, because we’ve been through this for so long.”
Hagay Keren, 52, praised the IDF’s achievement but is doesn’t believe there will be a victory in this war until all 101 hostages are returned home.
The attorney hopes the government will seize the opportunity to “exploit the chaos” to bring them back.
Keren said this could be a chance to offer incentives for people still holding hostages to turn them over, but is skeptical that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will do so.
“I fear that the motives of Netanyahu’s government are never entirely pure, and that the greatest interest of Netanyahu’s government is the continuation of the war, meaning that all possibilities for bringing back the hostages now might not be fully pursued,” Keren said.
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