Middle East Eye reports:

Israeli analysts say the assassination of Yahya Sinwar is unlikely to bring Israel’s war on Gaza to an end and will likely put the 101 hostages held in the enclave in even greater danger.

There has been speculation that the Hamas leaders’ killing has left an opportunity for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, under American pressure, to declare victory, strike a ceasefire deal and bring the hostages home.

This might have been possible several months ago, but the war on Gaza has now shape-shifted, Israeli journalist and analyst Meron Rapoport told Middle East Eye.

“The elimination of Hamas and the return of the hostages was not the goal of the war in recent times,” Rapoport said.

“The goal is to change the borders of the Gaza Strip and to eliminate Palestinian nationalism in Gaza and transfer as many people as possible.”

Over the past two weeks, Israeli forces have ordered hundreds of thousands of people to leave northern Gaza, cut off aid from entering the area, and launched a new offensive on those who remain.

Analysts like Rapoport say the Israeli military is carrying out the controversial “General’s Plan”, also known as the Eiland Plan, which calls for the ethnic cleansing of northern Gaza.

Now underway, the military might be impossible to stop even if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanted to end the war right now, Rapoport said.

“The road back from this war is very complex. A dynamic has developed that the army itself will find difficult to stop,” he said.

Along with parts of the army, the powerful right-wing figures in Netanyahu’s government will “want to complete the bigger plan regarding Gaza”.

Hamas said on Friday that the Israeli hostages will not be released until the war ends and Israel withdraws from Gaza. But experts have told MEE that the “General’s Plan” will leave northern Gaza under Israeli occupation indefinitely. [Continue reading…]