Yahya Sinwar, the architect of the October 7 attack, is the new leader of Hamas
Hamas has named Yahya Sinwar as the new head of its political bureau, elevating the hardline militant to the group’s leadership after the assassination in Tehran of its previous political leader. Sinwar’s appointment was announced in a brief statement by Hamas on Tuesday that was aired on pro-Hamas Iranian state media channels, reports The Guardian.
Sinwar, the military leader of Hamas, believed to be the mastermind behind the October 7 attack on Israel, is said to be hiding in the series of tunnels underneath Gaza. He is the group's main decision-maker in Gaza and is believed to be in control of the approximately 120 Israeli hostages still in Hamas custody. We remind that the US and the European Union have designated Hamas as a terrorist organization.
Sinwar succeeds Ismail Haniyeh, the former political chief of Hamas who was killed last week in a bombing that Hamas and Iranian officials blamed on Israel. The assassination happened during the inauguration of Iran's new president and further raised fears of a wider regional war involving Iran, which backs Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. Iran has vowed to retaliate against Israel for the attack on its soil.
Haniyeh was another key figure in the Israeli-Hamas ceasefire talks and was seen as an intermediary between Israel and Sinwar. Sinwar is a founding member of Hamas and is considered the group's most powerful figure. The group's former intelligence chief, Sinwar spent 23 years in Israeli prisons, serving four life sentences for attempted murder and sabotage.
Sinwar was released as part of a swap in which Israel traded 1,000 prisoners in 2011 in exchange for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who had been captured five years earlier by Hamas. Sinwar quickly returned to militancy and stated that he had concluded that the capture of Israeli soldiers was the key to freeing Israeli prisoners.
The move will further strengthen the group under the leadership of Sinwar, whose elevation to the head of Hamas' political wing will raise further doubts about the possibility of a ceasefire in the conflict. Sinwar is believed to have launched the October 7 attack in Gaza without informing the political leadership, which was led by Haniyeh in Qatar.
