Hamas: Jahja Sinwar becomes new head of the Politburo
Minutes after the announcement, the armed wing of Hamas, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, claimed to have fired a barrage of rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel.
The 61-year-old Sinwar is considered the mastermind behind the brutal Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, in which, according to Israeli figures, 1198 people were killed. He has not been seen in public since and is believed to be hiding in the tunnel system under the Gaza Strip. Israel's Defense Minister had vowed, "we will find Sinwar and eliminate him". The new Hamas leader has also been on the US terror list for years.
Sinwar, who comes from the refugee camp of Khan Yunis, joined Hamas at its founding in 1987 during the first Intifada, the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation. His career in the radical Palestinian organization was long shrouded in secrecy. At the age of 25, he was already leading the Hamas unit that punished Palestinians who collaborated with Israelis.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment four times for the killing of two Israeli soldiers. In total, Sinwar spent 23 years in Israel in prison. He was released in 2011 as part of a prisoner exchange.
In 2017, Hamas elected him as its leader in the Gaza Strip, after his predecessor, the late Ismail Haniyeh, became the head of the organization and went into exile. Politically, Sinwar aims to achieve a unified leadership in all Palestinian territories, including the occupied West Bank, which is ruled by the Fatah party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas's rival.
Hamas, as referred to in the text, is a radical Palestinian organization with Sinwar being its current leader in the Gaza Strip. The armed wing of Hamas, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, is known for their actions in the Gaza Strip.
