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Strategic mistake: Israel “immortalized” Hamas leader Sinwar by passing on combat images.

Strategic mistake: Israel “immortalized” Hamas leader Sinwar by passing on combat images.

Israel’s decision to share and publish every detail of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s death was viewed by some experts as a strategic mistake as it quickly led to the glorification of Sinwar’s final moments, which he spent fighting IDF soldiers.

The images and videos shared online contradicted the Israeli narrative that Sinwar was hiding in a tunnel and surrounded by Israeli hostages.

Leila Molana-Allen, PBS special correspondent, commented: “I’m not sure why IDF decided to publish this. For those who want to glorify Sinwar as a resistance hero, it shows him fighting to the death after losing an arm, on the front lines with his fighters, rather than hiding in a tunnel behind human shields like the IDF -story has been.”

The video, purportedly from Sinwar’s final moments, shows him throwing a stick at an IDF-operated drone while seriously injured. Compared to the deaths of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and the late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, the images shown before and after his death sparked widespread “praise” on social media.

The drone image purportedly shows Hamas leader Sinwar’s final moments before his death.

The graphic images of Hamas leader Sinwar were broadcast on Israeli television

Graphic images of Sinwar’s body were released by the IDF to the Israeli media. Israel-based Channel 12 broadcast the graphic images live without adhering to global journalistic standards.

Dan Cohen, a Washington-based journalist, said Yahya Sinwar “became a legend” for resisting Israeli occupation while seriously injured.

“If the news about Sinwar is true, then congratulations to him on the martyrdom that only the honorable achieve,” posted Algerian journalist Hafid Derradji with 3.5 million followers on X, apparently referring to Sinwar’s death Fight against the IDF troops.

Israel considers the killing of the mastermind of the October 7 attacks to be the biggest military victory against Hamas in Gaza.

With Sinwar’s killing obviously a major blow to Hamas, the Palestinians interviewed by the BBC in Khan Younis commented: “This war does not depend on Sinwar, Haniyeh or Mishar, nor on any leader or official.”

“He is immortalized as Omar al Mukhtar”

An anonymous pro-Palestinian social media user argued: “These images will immortalize Sinwar. In the years to come, Muslims will mention him in the same breath as Omar al Mukhtar.”

Omar Mukhtar was an Islamic scholar turned freedom fighter who fought fiercely against the Italian occupation in Libya.

Turkish journalist Ragip Soylu, who works for Middle East Eye, also commented on the “optics” of the death of Hamas top leader Yahya Sinwar. Without referring to videos, he noted: “People are already worshiping Sinwar and calling him a martyr.”

He continued: “I have yet to see anyone from Gaza on this platform who does not celebrate Sinwar’s death because it happened during a battle in broad daylight and he died in military fatigue in battle.” Not in the tunnels. Optics.”