Yahya Sinwar was appointed as the new leader of Hamas, after 48 hours of negotiations in Doha. The appointment came after the need to replace Ismail Haniya, who was assassinated in Tehran last week.
The announcement of the new leader of the Islamist movement comes in a tense atmosphere, which prevails in the Middle East. The situation is expected to escalate between Iran and Israel in retaliation for the assassination of the former Hamas leader.
Who is Yahya Sinuar?
Yahya Sinwar has been the leader of the Hamas organization inside the Gaza Strip since 2017. The organization’s leadership chose him as head of its political wing unanimously, a senior official told the BBC.
During the negotiations in Doha, there were intensive meetings in which Hamas leaders listed all possible candidates for the organization’s next leader.
The first years
Yahya Sinwar was born in the Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza in 1962. He joined Hamas from its founding in 1987, the year of the first Intifada.
In the late 1980s, he founded the organization’s security service.
He spent 23 years in Israeli prisons before being released in 2011 in a prisoner exchange.
The appointment
Although many scenarios were mooted, the two most prevalent names were that of Sinwar and Mohammad Darwish.
However, it didn’t take long for senior executives to unanimously agree on their first choice. Sinouar’s appointment is no accident. As he explained to the BBC, an official of the organization was “a provocative message to Israel”.
“They killed Haniya, the ‘flexible’ person who was open to solutions. Now they will have to negotiate with Sinuar and the military leadership,” the official added.
Before his death, Ismail Haniya, according to regional diplomats, was a pragmatist compared to other members of Hamas. They considered him as a key driver of her political approach.
Sinouar, in contrast to his predecessor, is considered one of the most extreme members of the organization.
This is a person who is currently at the top of Israel’s most wanted list. Israeli security services believe he is behind the attacks on October 7, 2023, which left 1,200 dead and 251 hostages in the Gaza Strip.
The reactions of the Sinouar election
“The appointment of the arch-terrorist Sinwar as the new leader of Hamas, as a replacement for Ismail Haniya, is one more compelling reason to exterminate him quickly and disappear from the face of the earth,” the Israeli Foreign Minister wrote characteristically in X.
The spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, told the Saudi news channel Al-Arabiya that “Sinwar is responsible for the most violent terrorist attack in history.”
Anthony Blinken believes Sinwar is hiding “10 stories underground” in Gaza, as he has not made any public appearances since the October attacks.
Javed Ali, a former US National Security Council official, told the BBC that the appointment of a new Hamas leader could block further talks on a ceasefire and the release of hostages. As he pointed out, “Sinuar is very rigid and much more difficult to negotiate with him”.
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