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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 about the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was viewed by some media experts as a strategic mistake, as it quickly led to the glorification of Sinwar’s final moments, which he spent fighting the Israel Defense Forces ( IDF).

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.”

A video purporting to show 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 former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, the before-and-after pictures of Sinwar’s death have drawn 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

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

Dan Cohen, a Washington DC-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 for the martyrdom that only the honorable achieve,” Algerian journalist Hafid Derradji, with 3.5 million followers, posted on X, referring to Sinwar’s death in battle 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.

Reacting to Sinwar’s killing, seen as a major blow to Hamas, Palestinians interviewed by the BBC in Khan Younis commented: “This war does not depend on Sinwar, Haniyeh, Mishar or 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 al-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 Sinwar’s death. 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.”