Andrew Miller, until recently a senior State Department official dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, said that Israel could use Sinwar’s death “as a pretext to argue that we have achieved our objectives and it’s time to move in a different direction.”

“I’m not especially optimistic that Prime Minister Netanyahu and his coalition will do this. Another Israeli government might, but they just haven’t, particularly in recent weeks, demonstrated a real interest in this track,” said Miller, now at the left-leaning Center for American Progress.

But he said Sinwar’s killing might change “the public conversation” and deprive Netanyahu of a stated reason for not reaching a deal with Hamas, AFP reports.