The killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar represents "a huge development" in the Middle East, but its impact on the ground "remains to be seen," an expert tells AFP. Within Hamas, "there is certainly a chance that his death will serve as a kind of crisis," says Charles Lister, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute. Now, in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's "mind [this could] create an opportunity to change that domestic equation" since the Gaza war started with the October 7, 2023 attacks. "Suddenly he has an opportunity now, potentially, yes, to negotiate a ceasefire and to end the war, but also potentially to rub further salt in Hamas' wound and weaken them even further," explains Lister, the director of Syria and Countering Terrorism & Extremism programs at the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES