TEL AVIV: Some Israelis felt relief with the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, even as the fate of nearly 100 hostages in Gaza still stirred anxiety.
Israeli authorities long accused Sinwar of masterminding the October 7 attack, the deadliest in the country’s history.
Hamas militants overran portions of southern Israel, shooting people, storming military bases and attacking a music festival where they killed at least 370 people.
It was an unprecedented attack that deeply shook the country.
For some, the killing of the October 7 architect brought some closure following a year of fighting in the Gaza Strip.
“It’s like closing the circle, bringing things full circle,” Dolev, a 29-year-old Tel Aviv resident, told AFP, asking to use only a single name.
“It feels like we’ve finished what we set out to do, and I hope this will also lead to an end,” he added, though since late September Israel has also been fighting on another front, with intensified air strikes and troops on the ground in Lebanon against Hamas ally Hezbollah.
“I hope it will lead to the end of the war, the return of the hostages, and for quieter days,” Dolev said.
The October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures that includes hostages killed in captivity.
Militants took 251 people hostage during the attack. Ninety-seven remain in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead.
The war triggered an Israeli military retaliation that has killed at least 42,500 people in Gaza, according to data from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures the UN has acknowledged as reliable.
As the military targeted Hamas fighters and leaders while searching for any sign of Sinwar, the war reduced large parts of the Palestinian territory to rubble.
Israeli commanders believed Sinwar hid in the maze of tunnels Hamas built beneath Gaza, while Israeli media had reported he was likely to be surrounded by hostages.
But when the Hamas chief was finally cornered and killed by the Israeli army, he was above ground with just two other fighters and no captives in sight, the military said.
Following the announcement of Sinwar’s death, Israelis along with leaders from across the West called on Israel to seize the moment to leverage a deal to release the remaining captives.
“To be honest, I only thought about the hostages, whether this will help move any deal forward, if there will now be a way to bring them back, or if, on the contrary, this is pushing a deal further away,” said Sharon Sborovsky, 31, from Tel Aviv.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met earlier Friday to discuss the aftermath of Sinwar’s death, including the fate of the hostages.
A statement released by the president’s office said that “a significant window of opportunity opened — including the promotion of the return of the hostages and the elimination of Hamas.”
Later in the day, Hamas said it had no plans to release the hostages until Israel ends its “aggression against our people in Gaza,” withdraws from the territory and frees jailed Palestinians.
And while the death of Sinwar marked a milestone in the war, many Israelis were not yet ready to celebrate.
“It is nice to have killed the leader of Hamas,” said Yonatan, a 34-year-old resident of Haifa.
“But we hope that all the hostages will come back, then we can start the party.”
Relief, anxiety in Israel after Sinwar’s killing
https://arab.news/4krwy
Relief, anxiety in Israel after Sinwar’s killing
- “It’s like closing the circle, bringing things full circle,” Dolev, a 29-year-old Tel Aviv resident, told AFP
- “To be honest, I only thought about the hostages, whether this will help move any deal forward, if there will now be a way to bring them back,” said Sharon Sborovsky
Turkiye to forge on with tight economic policy, some fine-tuning, VP Yilmaz says
- The central bank forecasts inflation between 13-19 percent by end-2026
ISTANBUL: Turkiye is committed to carrying on its tight economic policies in order to cool inflation, and though it may fine-tune the program it will not change course, Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said in comments embargoed to Friday.
“There is no plan to pause our program,” Yilmaz said at a briefing with reporters in Istanbul on Thursday. “All programs are dynamic, and adjustments can always be made.”
Yilmaz, who plays a key role overseeing economic policy at the presidency, said any such adjustments would aim to support production, investment and exports while moderating consumption.
Turkiye has pursued tight monetary and fiscal policies for more than two years in order to reduce price pressure, leading to high financing and borrowing costs that have weighed on businesses and households. Inflation has eased slowly but steadily over the last year but remains elevated at 31 percent annually.
Last month, Is Bank CEO Hakan Aran warned that focusing solely on one target — inflation — could create side effects, suggesting a “pause and restart” might be healthy once the program achieves certain targets.
Yılmaz said the government expects improvements in inflation in the first quarter, which should reflect to market expectations for year-end inflation around 23 percent. The government projects inflation to dip as far as 16 percent by year end, within a 13-19 percent range, and falling to 9 percent in 2027. The central bank forecasts inflation between 13-19 percent by end-2026.
Yilmaz noted inflation fell by nearly 45 points despite pressure from elevated food prices, hit by agricultural frost and drought.
The agricultural sector is expected to support growth and help ease price rises this year, which could help achieve official inflation targets, he said.
Yilmaz said the government wants to avoid a rapid drop in inflation that could hurt economic growth, jobs and social stability.
Turkiye’s economic program was established in 2023 after years of unorthodox easy money that aimed to stoke growth but that sent inflation soaring and the lira plunging. The program aims to dislodge high inflation expectations while boosting production and exports, in order to address long-standing current account deficits.
The central bank, having raised interest rates as high as 50 percent in 2024, eased policy through most of last year, bringing the key rate down to 38 percent.
Asked whether lower rates could trigger an exit from the lira currency, Yilmaz said: “What matters is real interest rates. Lowering rates as inflation falls does not affect real rates, so we do not expect such an impact.”
He added that the government will strengthen mechanisms that selectively support companies while improving overall financial conditions.
