Meet Yahya Sinwar, new leader of Hamas and ‘mastermind’ of October 7 attacks in Israel

Yahya Sinwar is the new leader of Hamas, after he was picked by the Gaza-based Islamist group to head its political bureau, making him the highest-ranking official in the organisation.

The appointment of a new Hamas boss was necessitated by the assassination last week of Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed along with his bodyguard in an alleged Israeli operation, in Iran’s capital Tehran.

Hamas has vowed to ‘avenge’ the killing of Haniyeh.

Who is Yahya Sinwar?

(1.) Yahya Sinwar was born on October 29, 1962, in the Palestinian city of Khan Yunis. He tops Israel’s ‘most-wanted’ list; the Israeli security agencies believe that he masterminded the October 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas in Israel, which led to the ongoing war in Gaza.

(2.) The 61-year-old also features on the US blacklist of ‘international terrorists.’ In June, US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said that Sinwar, was ‘hiding 10 storeys underground’ in Gaza. In February, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released a video that shows a man, purportedly Sinwar, and his family members, ‘walking through a tunnel’ in Gaza.

(3.) In the late 1980s, he founded Majd, the internal security unit of Hamas. Among other things, Majd targets Israel’s alleged Palestinian collaborators.

(4.) Viewed as ‘one of the most extremist figures’ of the Islamist group, he has spent much of his life in Israeli jails. However, in 2011, he was among 1,027 Palestinian and Israeli Arab prisoners set free by Israel in exchange for Gilad Shalit, a soldier of the IDF held captive for more than five years by Hamas.

(5.) Before Tuesday’s announcement, Sinwar was heading the group in Gaza. He has not been seen in public after the October 7 attacks.