Palestinian militant group Hamas has named Yahya Sinawar, the architect of the October 7 attacks on Israel, as its new leader. This comes as its political chief Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran last week.
Sinawar, who is currently holed up in Gaza, is the group’s chief decision-maker and is said to be in control of the 120 Israeli hostages. "The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas announces the selection of Commander Yahya Sinwar as the head of the political bureau of the movement, succeeding the martyr Commander Ismail Haniyeh, may Allah have mercy on him," the movement said in a brief statement.
Who is Sinawar?
Yahya Sinawar is a founding member of Hamas and is the group’s most powerful figure. The 61-year-old Sinawar is viewed as one of Hamas’s most extreme figures and Israel's 'most wanted man'.
Born in a refugee camp at the southern end of the Gaza Strip, Sinawar was drawn into Islamist activism when he studied at the Islamic University of Gaza in the early 1980s. In 1987, he joined the newly created group Hamas. One of his initial chores was as head of its nascent intelligence service, detecting spies and bringing to light Israel collaborators.
He was arrested the next year by Israel and spent 23 years in Israeli prisons as he served four life sentences for attempted murder and sabotage. A former interrogator called him "1,000% committed and 1,000% violent, a very, very hard man". Unconfirmed reports say Sinwar refused to talk to any Israelis and personally punished those who did.
He was released from Israeli prison in 2011 along with 1,000 others in exchange for the release of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas five years earlier. He immediately was back to the leadership role, assuming the overall command of Hamas in Gaza, coordinating with Hamas’s military and civil administrative wings. The US includes Sinwar on its blacklist of "international terrorists".
Israel's chief military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said his country would continue to target him. "There is only one place for Yahya Sinwar, and it is beside Mohammed Deif and the rest of the Oct 7th terrorists," he told Al-Arabiya television. "That is the only place we're preparing and intending for him."
'End of moderation'
The appointment of Sinawar as the group's head comes as Israel braces for a likely attack from Iran following the killing of Haniyeh. "The appointment means that Israel needs to face Sinwar over a solution to Gaza war," a regional diplomat familiar with the talks brokered by Egypt and Qatar told Reuters. "It is a message of toughness and it is uncompromising."
Many believe Sinawar's appointment suggested that Hamas could toughen its position in ceasefire negotiations and make it harder to reach a deal.
Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment, told The Guardian that "in electing Sinwar to head Hamas, the organisation lays to rest any differences between external and internal leaders and whatever illusions of moderation existed to reveal its true face."
