The Palestinian militant group Hamas says it has chosen Yahya Sinwar, its top Gaza official who masterminded the October 7 attacks in Israel, as its new leader.
BEIRUT– The Palestinian militant group Hamas said Tuesday that it has chosen Yahya Sinwar, its top Gaza official who masterminded the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, as its new leader.
The choice of Sinwar, a reserved figure who leads Hamas hardliners and is close to Iran, was a challenging step. Sinwar tops Israel’s kill list as it seeks to destroy Hamas and its leadership after the Oct. 7 attack in which militants killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and took about 250 hostage.
Hamas said in a statement that it named Sinwar as the new head of its political office to replace Ismail Haniyeh, assassinated in Iran last week in an alleged Israeli attack. Also last week, Israel said it had confirmed the death of the head of Hamas’s military wing, Mohammed Deif, in a July airstrike in Gaza. Hamas has not confirmed his death.
Unlike Haniyeh, who had lived in exile in Qatar for years, Sinwar remained in Gaza. As leader of Hamas in the territory since 2017, he rarely appeared in public but maintained tight control over the Hamas government. Close to Deif and the armed wing, known as the Qassam Brigades, he worked to strengthen the group’s military capabilities.
Sinwar has been deeply hidden since the October 7 attacks, as Israel unleashed its campaign in Gaza and the death toll among Palestinians rose, now close to 40,000.
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