Al-Monitor's Obituary: 'Elusive' Hamas Leader, Conveniently Dead (Again)
Al-Monitor's recent obituary for Mohammad Sinwar, the Hamas military chief, proclaims his death on December 29, 2024, at age 49. The article notes Hamas' internal confirmation seven months after Israel publicly claimed to have killed him. This curious resurrection-and-redeath narrative (first reported killed then 'died') echoes a familiar pattern where the deaths of Palestinian figures are
announced, sometimes multiple times, by various parties, each timing potentially serving distinct narratives. (One might wonder if 'elusive' doubles for 'conveniently absent from definitive proof'.) While Al-Monitor highlights Sinwar's quote that 'striking Israel was easier than drinking water,' it omits the broader context of a decades-long occupation that gives rise to such sentiments. Israeli
officials, for example, routinely promise to 'eradicate Hamas' and 'destroy infrastructure,' often with little concern for the civilian cost, a rhetoric frequently echoed without critical analysis in Western media. One might ask if the mainstream media prefers its enemy leaders confirmably dead to tidy up a narrative, even if the timeline is a bit... flexible. How many times can one 'chief' be
killed before the reporting becomes less about fact and more about desired messaging?