- New Hamas leader gives little hope for new negotiations
Almost a week after the killing of Hamas' external chief Ismail Haniyeh, the Islamist terror group has appointed Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, Yahya al-Sinwar, as the new head of the organization. This was announced by Hamas on the Telegram platform. He is now the head of the political bureau of Hamas, it said. Sinwar is considered the mastermind behind the Hamas terror attack on October 7, 2023, in which around 1200 people were killed in southern Israel.
Sinwar is at the top of Israel's kill list. He lives in an unknown location in the Gaza Strip - it is believed that he is hiding in the tunnels of the organization under the coastal area. His predecessor Haniyeh resided in Qatar's capital Doha and was considered the chief diplomat of Hamas.
Born in the Gaza Strip, now leader of Hamas
Sinwar's former deputy, Mohammed Deif, commander of the Al-Qassam Brigades and thus the military wing of Hamas, was the target of an Israeli missile attack in July. Israel had declared him dead last week. Haniyeh, on the other hand, was killed last week in an assassination in the Iranian capital Tehran.
Sinwar belongs to the founding generation of Hamas. He was born in 1962 in the refugee camp of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. His family comes from the area of the coastal city of Ashkelon, which is now on Israeli territory. He spent more than two decades in Israeli prisons and learned Hebrew fluently during that time.
When Hamas formed during the first Palestinian uprising, the Intifada, at the end of the 1980s in the fight against Israeli occupation, Sinwar was also involved in building the military arm of Hamas, the Qassam Brigades. In the early years of the Islamist movement, Sinwar was responsible for fighting suspected collaborators with Israel within their own ranks. He was so brutal in his methods that he became known as the "Butcher of Khan Yunis".
The appointment of Yahya al-Sinwar as the new head of Hamas has further escalated [the conflict]. His brutal past as the "Butcher of Khan Yunis" and his role in building Hamas' military arm have made him a prominent figure in the ongoing conflict between Hamas and Israel.
Israel considers Sinwar a significant threat and has him on its kill list, reflecting the intense nature of [the conflict] between the two parties.
