"Butcher of Chan Junis": Israel wants to kill Hamas chief

"Butcher of Chan Junis": Israel wants to kill Hamas chief

This man is at the top of Israel's hit list: the head of the Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Jihia al-Sinwar. The 61-year-old and all others responsible for the massacre on October 7 are doomed to die, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Sinwar, together with Mohammed Deif, commander of the armed wing of the terrorist organization Hamas, is considered the planner of the surprise attack in which around 1,200 Israelis were killed. Israel now wants to track down both of them during the military operation in the Gaza Strip.

Sinwar, a wiry, bearded man with short-cropped white hair, bushy dark eyebrows and striking features, belongs to the founding generation of Hamas. He was born in 1962 in the refugee camp of Chan Junis in the south of the Gaza Strip. His family comes from the area around the coastal town of Ashkelon, now part of Israeli territory.

Hamas was formed during the first Palestinian Intifada uprising at the end of the 1980s in the fight against the Israeli occupation. Sinwar was also involved in setting up the military arm of Hamas, the Qassam Brigades. After the peace process between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) began, Hamas carried out bloody suicide attacks in Israel for years in order to torpedo it.

Extremely brutal, even against its own people

In the early years of the Islamist movement, Sinwar was responsible for the fight against suspected collaborators with Israel within its own ranks. He was so brutal in his actions that he became known as the "Butcher of Chan Junis".

Sinwar was convicted by Israel in 1988 for the murder of four suspected collaborators and two Israeli soldiers. He spent more than two decades in Israeli custody. He used this time to learn Hebrew and study the enemy. According to media reports, he systematically read books about prominent Zionist and Israeli personalities, including former heads of government Menachem Begin and Izchak Rabin. The aim was to gain a deep understanding of Israeli society, in the sense of "know your enemy". Sinwar is also said to have followed Israeli media reports closely.

During interrogation by the domestic intelligence service Shin Bet in 1989, Sinwar described how he had murdered each of the four Palestinians with his own hands. After kidnapping one of them, he took him to a cemetery in Chan Junis. "I blindfolded him, put him in an open grave and strangled him with a cloth," said Sinwar according to the interrogation protocol. He then covered up the grave. He also strangled another alleged collaborator with a Palestinian cloth.

Mussab Hassan Jussef, son of a Hamas co-founder, said of Sinwar: "He beheaded someone in prison because he suspected him of collaborating with Israel and used the sink in the bathroom. Mercilessly. And this is the man who is now in charge of Hamas in the Gaza Strip." Jussef himself was recruited by the Israeli secret service and broke away from Hamas.

During his time in prison, Sinwar had already positioned himself as a leader and also ordered the murders of other prisoners, said Professor Kobi Michael from the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies (INSS). He describes Sinwar as a "cruel, psychopathic personality", but at the same time as an intelligent, very charismatic and strong leader. According to media reports, Sinwar's life was in danger during his imprisonment due to a brain abscess - Israeli doctors saved his life with an operation.

Release as part of a prisoner exchange with Israel

Sinwar was released in 2011 - as one of more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in return for the Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit. Sinwar's brother is said to have been involved in the kidnapping of the soldier in 2006. Netanyahu was later repeatedly criticized for the Schalit deal.

After his release, Sinwar was responsible for liaising between the military and political arms of Hamas. In 2017, he became the head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Since then, he has repeatedly tried to end the blockade of the Gaza Strip, which was tightened by Israel in 2006 and has also been supported by Egypt over the years. Among other things, he has relied on violent protests at the separation fence.

The Hamas charter is extreme and calls for the destruction of Israel, said Palestinian journalist and Hamas expert Mohammed Daraghmeh. However, Sinwar has also taken more pragmatic positions, at least at times.

In 2017, Hamas presented slightly revised political positions in a policy paper. It indicated a willingness to accept a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, at least temporarily. At the same time, however, Hamas reaffirmed its commitment to armed resistance against Israel, its claim to the whole of historic Palestine and its demand for the return of Palestinian refugees. At the time, experts categorized the publication of the paper as an effort by Hamas to break out of its international isolation.

Sinwar's strategic plan

Daraghmeh sees the massacre on October 7 as an attempt by Sinwar to "turn the tables" by using extreme violence. He had reached a point "where he thought that Israel would never give the Palestinians a state, that the West would never recognize Hamas." Within the Gaza Strip, the dissatisfaction of the population has grown in the face of an economic crisis. "Everyone complained that anyone who could leave Gaza had left Gaza."

Hamas was internationally isolated, while at the same time there were talks about Israel's rapprochement with Saudi Arabia. In addition, there were provocations by members of Israel's right-wing religious government on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and concerns about the annexation of further areas in the West Bank. This was another reason why Sinwar had tried to "break Israel's will by force".

However, Sinwar had obviously miscalculated, said Daraghmeh. "Hamas fighters have committed atrocities in Israeli towns and villages, world public opinion was on Israel's side and the Americans sent aircraft carriers to the region." Sinwar apparently also counted on stronger support from the Lebanese Shia militia Hezbollah and Iran.

Michael also believes that Sinwar had "a strategic plan to activate all fronts against Israel". The aim was "a pincer movement that would lead to the collapse of Israel". The "Axis of Resistance" under Iranian leadership intended to wage a long-term war of attrition that would bring Israel to its knees socially and economically. "They assume that Israel is a Western society that is not resilient enough to deal with this." Michael also thinks that Sinwar is surprised by the strong US reaction and rather weak support from Hezbollah and Iran.

Fight to the end

Netanyahu said of Sinwar that he was not interested in the fate of his people and behaved "like a little Hitler in his bunker". Michael also believes that Sinwar has "no problem with sacrificing his own people".

Daraghmeh also assumes that Sinwar and the rest of the Hamas leadership are hiding in the tunnel system in the Gaza Strip. "They have been preparing for this for months, if not years," says Daraghmeh. "They were expecting the invasion."

Both experts believe it is highly unlikely that Sinwar and other Hamas leaders could surrender in battle. "They will fight to the end," says Daraghmeh. "They believe that they will go to heaven if they die as martyrs."

Sinwar's actions against suspected collaborators in the early days of Hamas earned him the nickname "Butcher of Chan Junis," leading to conflicts within the Middle East. Despite this brutal past, Sinwar's strategic plan in 2017 included efforts to break Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip and moderate some of Hamas's political positions, aiming to improve Hamas's international standing.

Source: www.dpa.com