Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of October 7 attack on Israel, is new chief of Hamas

Yahya Sinwar will be the new leader of Hamas, said the terrorist group in a statement.

“The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas announces the selection of leader Yahya Sinwar as the head of the political bureau of the movement,” said the statement from Hamas, according to AFP.

Sinwar has replaced Ismail Haniyeh as the leader of Hamas’ political bureau, who was assassinated in Iran’s capital Tehran last week. Since 2017, Sinwar has been the chief of Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Along with Mohammed Deif, the military chief of Hamas, Sinwar is considered to be the principal architect of the October 7 attack on Israel that triggered the ongoing war in Gaza. Deif was assassinated by Israel last month.

More from World

Nepal's new PM pays homage to people died during the Gen Z protest in her first national address This Week in Explainers: How recovering from Gen-Z protests is a Himalayan task for Nepal

As Sinwar is the principal architect of the October 7 attack and is widely considered to be the more hardliner and extremist of Hamas leaders, his elevation to the head of the group may also have a damning effect on the negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza and release of hostages — which are already stalled owing to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s revision of the terms of the deal.

Previously, Khaled Mashal was being considered to be the frontrunner to replace Haniyeh. He had headed Hamas during 1996-2017 and was succeeded by Haniyeh.

Sinwar, who is known for brutal violent tactics, takes over complete control of Hamas at a time when the Middle East is at the brink of war.

Impact Shorts

More Shorts

‘The cries of this widow will echo’: In first public remarks, Erika Kirk warns Charlie’s killers they’ve ‘unleashed a fire’

Trump urges Nato to back sanctions on Russia, calls for 50–100% tariffs on China

Iran has vowed revenge for Haniyeh’s assassination, which came hours after fellow Iran-backed anti-Israel terrorist group Hezbollah’s military chief Faud Shukr’s assassination, and is expected to attack Israel anytime. There are fears that the cycle of violence could lead to an all-out war in the Middle East.

For years, Sinwar has been known to fuel violence in Israel and Gaza and rely on the deaths of Palestinians to drive the war on Israel. In the ongoing war, The Wall Street Journal has reported that he is relying on the rising death toll of Palestinians and their continued misery to corner Israel at the international stage , which already finds itself isolated over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Who is new Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar?

Sinwar was born in 1962 in Gaza’s Khan Younis city. He has been a terrorist with Hamas since its inception.

Sinwar joined the Palestinian Islamist movement in 1980s and helped organise Munaẓẓamat al-Jihād wa al-Daʿwah (Al-Majd).

In 1987, when Hamas was founded, Sinwar’s Al-Majd was absorbed in it and Al-Majd formed the security cadre of the new Palestinian terrorist group.

In 1988, Sinwar was detained by Israel and was later convicted for murder and was sentenced for life in jail. He would have spent his entire life in prison if were not freed in a prisoner swap in 2011 when Hamas sought the release of hundreds of Palestinians terrorists in lieu of a captured soldier.

In 2011, Sinwar got a fresh lease of life and joined the cause of terrorism again. In 2017, he was elevated to the membership of Hamas’ political bureau and was made the chief of the group in Gaza.

Jewish doctor saved Sinwar’s life, then Hamas abducted his nephew

If not for Israeli doctors, Sinwar would have long been dead.

Dr Yuval Bitton, a Jewish Israeli doctor, was a working at the infirmary of the prison where Sinwar was lodged. Sinwar was suffering from a mystery sickness at the time when Bitton suspected he had a stroke or an abscess, according to The New York Times.

At Bitton’s advice, Sinwar was rushed to a hospital where the doctors performed an emergency surgery and removed a brain tumour that would have killed him if left untreated, as per the paper.

Bitton, to whom Sinwar said he owed his life, then developed a relationship with Sinwar and the two often talked over tea about Hamas. It is in these conversations that Sinwar told the doctor that their war was not political but religious and their was no scope of a two-state solution for Hamas.

“Hamas sees the land we live on as the holy land, like, ‘This is ours, you don’t have a right to live in this land,’. It wasn’t political, it was religious,” said Bitton to The Times.

In the October 7 attack last year, which was masterminded by Sinwar, the Hamas terrorists attacked the house of Bitton’s nephew and abducted him. He is one of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, according to the newspaper.