Killing Hamas leader garners Israel a tactical, not a strategic success

Yahya Sinwar’s last moments: Source: Israel Defense Forces

For the past year, Israel depicted Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar as a coward hiding in Gaza’s fortified underground tunnels shielded by 22 handcuffed Israeli hostages.

Drone footage of the Hamas leader’s last minutes released by the Israeli military showed a different Mr. Sinwar.

Dressed in military fatigues, badly wounded, and covered in dust in a ruined above-ground apartment after an exchange of fire with Israeli troops, Mr. Sinwar, seemingly alone, made one last gesture of defiance before he was killed.

More important than shining a light on apparent Israeli dis-and misinformation, the impact of the contrast in images suggests that Israel’s management of its information war is backfiring, much like its targeted assassinations that have failed to spark the collapse of groups like Hamas or Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese Shiite militia.