After Sinwar's death, hostage families see a 'window of opportunity' to bring their loved ones home

JERUSALEM (AP) — Two days after Israeli forces killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza, families of the hostages taken last year are urging the government to use this moment to bring their loved ones home.

Many are caught between deep fear and cautious optimism. They worry the militants holding their loved ones captive might now take matters into their own hands and retaliate against the hostages for Sinwar's death. But they also see a glimmer of hope: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may now be able to claim victory on one of his war goals, destroying Hamas politically, and pivot to the other, returning the hostages.

“Netanyahu and the U.S. said in the last couple of weeks that Sinwar was the obstacle to getting a deal. Now he's not the obstacle. So this should bring them to take advantage of the window of opportunity to get a deal done, and fast,” said Ruby Chen, 55, father of American-Israeli hostage Itay Chen.

Chen, a 19-year-old former Boy Scout who loved basketball, was kidnapped from a military base on Oct. 7, 2023, one of some 250 hostages taken that day, in an attack where Hamas fighters killed roughly 1,200 people across southern Israel. Ruby Chen said the military has told the family they had some indication that Itay died in captivity, but he’s not sure that claim is true.

Assassinating Sinwar has been a top priority for Israel's military since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. Israeli soldiers killed the Hamas leader in a chance encounter Wednesday, Israel’s military said, with a tank shell fired into a building where he was taking refuge following a gunfight with Israeli soldiers.

Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, about a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Ceasefire negotiations to secure their release have sputtered time and time again, and hostage families have criticized Netanyahu for prioritizing military victory over a deal.

“Mr. Netanyahu had a very dark legacy up to this day,” said Efrat Machikawa, 56, the niece of 80-year-old hostage Gadi Moses, who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz. “But the time is now, exactly now ... Now is his chance to make sure all the hostages are coming back, the dead so they can have a proper burial and the living so they can be returned to their families.”

During a recent round of negotiations over a deal proposed by the Biden administration, Netanyahu refused to agree to withdraw Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip at war's end, a precondition for Hamas to agree to release hostages, and one Sinwar is believed to have clung to fiercely.

Now that Sinwar is dead, hostage families have reason to believe that both Netanyahu and Hamas negotiators could soften their stance.

In a speech late Thursday, Netanyahu said Sinwar's death does not mean the war is over. But he signaled that the killing could bring a deal closer, calling the return of the hostages his “supreme obligation,” and offering immunity to Hamas fighters who “put down their weapons and leave our hostages.”

To Ricardo Grichener, the uncle of 23-year-old hostage Omer Wenkert, Netanyahu's tone sounds more sincere than ever before.

“Before now, he was always aggressive, talking about how we needed to annihilate everyone from Hamas. Now he seems more dedicated, talking about returning the hostages as his own personal mission,” Grichener said.

Grichener's nephew, Wenkert, has colitis, an intestinal disease for which he needs daily medication. A hostage held with Wenkert in the tunnels who was released last year has said the conditions were dismal: they lived in complete darkness, slept on sand, and ate only three dates a day, and half a bottle of water every two days.

“Time is of the essence,” Grichener said.

“After 12 months held in nonhuman conditions, we are afraid that our lived ones will not survive. Especially after Sinwar's death, we don’t know who is controlling the guards. We don’t know if there will be any retaliation against the hostages. We need a deal now.”