Who is Yahya Sinwar? What to know about Hamas leader after IDF confirms death

Topline

Israel said on Thursday it had killed Yahya Sinwar, the recently appointed head of Hamas' political bureau and the person the U.S. and Israel believe orchestrated the militant group's Oct. 7 attack on Israel last year – marking a major turning point in the years-long war between Israel and Hamas.

Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar has been described as a “dead man walking” by Israeli officials.

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Important facts

The Israel Defense Forces and Israel Security Service said Thursday they were “examining the possibility” that Sinwar, 62, was among three militants killed in IDF operations in Gaza, and hours later the IDF confirmed that Sinwar had been “eliminated”.

CNN reported that senior Biden administration officials have long viewed Sinwar's death as “the biggest potential turning point” and believe Israel could end its conflict with Hamas if Sinwar were killed.

Sinwar was appointed head of Hamas' political bureau a week after another senior Hamas political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in July at a residence in Tehran, Iran, in an assassination attempt that Hamas blamed on Israel.

Israeli officials have described Sinwar – who grew up in southern Gaza, joined Hamas in the late 1980s and gained recognition as the founder of the group's intelligence arm – as the mastermind behind Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

In 1989, Sinwar was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences for kidnapping and murdering two Israeli soldiers and served in an Israeli prison – reportedly learning Hebrew there – until his release in 2011, which was part of a massive prisoner swap , in which Israeli officials released more than 1,000 prisoners in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit captured by Hamas.

Since his release from prison, Sinwar has been involved in several rounds of fighting against Israel, including an 11-day crisis in May 2021 when Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fired rockets at Israel and Israel carried out airstrikes in Gaza.

The US State Department designated Sinwar a global terrorist in 2015 and he was also sanctioned by Britain and France.

Before being named Hamas' supreme leader, Sinwar was elected Hamas's Gaza leader in 2017 with a reputation as a hardliner and was re-elected to a second four-year term in 2021, months before another round of Hamas rocket attacks on Israel.

Sinwar was also known as a critic of Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority and its ruling Fatah party – a rival to Hamas, which controls the West Bank but not Gaza – and he promised in 2022 to “give the chance.” to spark resistance.” in the West Bank.”

According to a Reuters translation, Sinwar said in that speech that he would come for Israel “in a raging flood, God willing” and “with endless rockets” and “millions of our people, like the repeating tide.”

Cons

Harel Chorev, a senior researcher in Middle East studies at Tel Aviv University, told CNN late last year that while Sinwar was “perceived as the highest-ranking” Hamas official, the group had a “decentralized” structure and Sinwar was actually one of three The highest-ranking officials were those who planned the attack and were just one of several “power centers” within the terrorist organization.

Important background

War broke out in the Gaza Strip after Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel, which Israel estimates killed around 1,100 people. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry estimates that over 41,500 people have died in Gaza since October 7. After a series of temporary ceasefires just over a month into the war, fighting in the Gaza Strip resumed in December and has not stopped despite worsening humanitarian conditions in Gaza and increasing international calls for a ceasefire. The US continued to encourage Israel and Hamas to end the conflict and warned of possible escalation with Iran, which supports both Hamas and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Earlier this week, the US made one of its most serious accusations against Israel when two world leaders sent a letter to Israeli leaders threatening that the US could cut its military aid if Israel did not take action within 30 days take action to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Surprising fact

Sinwar had publicly expressed wariness about war with Israel in the past, telling Italian journalist Francesca Borri in 2018 that “a new war is in no one's interest.” In that interview, he added that Hamas would be open to negotiations with Israel if, in return, Israel and Egypt would lift their blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has been in place since Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007. As a result, several news outlets reported to Israeli analysts that it was previously believed that Hamas leaders – including Sinwar – had no interest in continuing the fighting, an impression that ended after the October 7 attack that left 1,200 dead in Israel 240 hostage-takings took place.

tangent

Sinwar is the latest leader of Hamas, or the Lebanon-based Hezbollah, to be killed by Israel. The IDF recently killed Hasan Nasrallah, the leader of the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, and Nabil Kaouk, the commander of Hezbollah's preventive security unit. Five other senior Hezbollah leaders were killed in the weeks before Nasrallah and Kaouk's deaths.