The "he" in the above verse is the Messiah...it is after all a Messianic prophecy...the covenant was confirmed by Jesus for a prophetic week...7 years...3 1/2 in person...3 1/2 through the His disciples until the stoning of Stephen after which the gospel was taken to the Gentiles. That final week completed the 490 years of Israel's probation from that very same chapter you quoted.
I don't know about this conclusively. Look at the previous two verses in Daniel 9: "25Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
26And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined."
In verse 25, it states "Messiah the Prince", in reference to Jesus. In verse 26, we see that Messiah is cut off.
Then, it states the "people of the prince", in lowercase. Why would the same being just within the last verse and the current one, have different capitalization and titling? If they're the same being, wouldn't verse 26 state "people of the Prince", just as "Messiah" is captalized in the same verse?
Also, look at the verbiage used, after the Messiah is cut off, the "people of the prince" "that shall come", meaning later on.
Then in verse 27 "And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate", it continues talking about the last being referenced, in verse 26, which is the "prince"; it doesn't switch again to talk of the "Prince".
So while I agree that verse 25 and the beginning of verse 26 is discussing the "Messiah the Prince" which is Jesus, I still think in verse 26 it talks of a different "prince", one that is like "the Prince", but is only a "prince".
The stoning of Stephen was the Sannhedrin's final rejection of Messiah and they represented the nation. From that time on, Iarael ceased to be God's vessel for taking the gospel to the world. The "vineyard was taken over by the King and give to another who would give the King its fruits in due season".
Jesus, through His death, caused the sacrifice and oblation to cease. Regardless of the continuing vain attempts to continue the practice by the rulers. It was Jesus Himself who said to the Sannhedrin, "behold, your house is left unto you desolate".
This, to me, does not negate that there are two different beings discussed in verse 26.