Yahya Sinwar helped start the Gaza War. Now he is the key to the ending.
After Hamas attacked Israel in October, triggering the Gaza war, Israeli leaders described the group's most senior official in the territory, Yahya Sinwar, as a "dead man walking." Viewing him as the architect of the raid, Israel described Sinwar's assassination as one of the main objectives of its devastating counterattack.Seven months later, Sinwar's survival is emblematic of the failure of Israel's war, which devastated much of Gaza but left Hamas's top leadership largely intact and failed to free most of the prisoners taken during the October attack.Even as Israeli officials sought to kill him, they were forced to negotiate with him, albeit indirectly, to free the remaining hostages. According to officials from Hamas, Israel and the United States, Sinwar emerged n...