Commentary: Will taking out Hamas leader Yehya Sinwar shorten the war?

Six days after 9/11, President George W. Bush gathered with his cabinet for a meeting on how the United States planned to respond to the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history. The man at the top of Washington’s target list was none other than al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden. “I want justice,” Bush told the reporters assembled before the meeting began. “And there’s an old poster out West … I recall, that said, ‘Wanted, Dead or Alive.’”

Twenty-two years and three months later, Israel is using similar language as it seeks to hunt down and kill Yehya.” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has vowed that the entire Hamas leadership, Sinwar included, will be wiped out. “We will get to Yehya Sinwar and eliminate him,” last month. “If the residents of Gaza get there ahead of us, that will shorten the war.”