Yahya Sinwar was born in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, in October 1962. He is described by analysts as one of the most feared and controversial figures in the Palestinian political and military scene.
The 61-year-old terrorist is also known by the nickname “the butcher of Khan Younis”, due to his trajectory marked by extreme violence and immense power within Hamas, the terrorist group that controls the Gaza Strip.
His journey within Hamas began in the 1980s, when he was recruited by the group’s founder, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. Once he joined Hamas, Sinwar was given command of a military unit that was tasked with cracking down on suspected traitors and enforcing strict Islamic morality laws in Gaza. His actions as head of this military unit earned him a feared reputation in the Palestinian enclave and among his adversaries.
His influence within Hamas grew further in 1985, when he became head of a Hamas unit responsible for locating and eliminating suspected Israeli spies.
His “skill” in conducting violent operations and his growing influence became even more evident in 1988, when he helped kidnap and murder two Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers. Following this act, Sinwar was captured and arrested by Israeli forces, and sentenced to 22 years in prison.
According to reports, Sinwar used his time in prison in Israel to deepen his knowledge of the country’s culture and security. The terrorist learned fluent Hebrew, translated documents and studied Israel’s counterterrorism strategies, which strengthened his skills and influence within Hamas.
In 2011, Sinwar was released in a notable prisoner swap involving over 1,000 Palestinians in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. This prisoner swap was widely celebrated among Palestinians, but Sinwar used his new freedom to intensify his terrorist activities.
In 2016, he was linked to the murder and torture of Mahmoud Ishtiwi, a Hamas commander who was accused of corruption and morality violations.
Sinwar’s rise to a more trusted position within Hamas came in 2017, when he took over as the group’s leader in Gaza. In that role, he led Hamas to step up its tactics of protests and rocket attacks on the border with Israel, exacerbating tensions in the region.
Sinwar is identified by Israel as one of the architects of the massacre that occurred on October 7, 2023, when the terrorist group Hamas attacked Israeli territory, leaving 1,200 dead, several injured and more than 200 people taken captive.
He was announced on Tuesday (6) as the new political leader of Hamas after the death of Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran, Iran, in an attack attributed by Hamas and the Islamic regime to Israel.
The country led by Benjamin Netanyahu has not claimed responsibility for the attack that killed Haniyeh, however, it has already released statements promising to eliminate Sinwar.
“Yahya Sinwar is a terrorist, responsible for the most brutal terrorist attack in history – on October 7,” IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said in an interview with the television network Al Arabiya.
“There is only one place for Yahya Sinwar, and that is next to Mohamed Deif,” he added, referring to the commander-in-chief of Hamas’s armed wing, who was eliminated in an Israeli bombing on July 13 in the Gaza Strip.
According to Israel, the Palestinian terrorist is still in Gaza, hiding in the tunnels that Hamas maintains in the Palestinian enclave.
The choice of Sinwar to be the new political leader of the terrorist group confirms the strategic change of Hamas, with the military side overriding the political one, in addition to putting at risk the ceasefire negotiations, in which the terrorist defends a more “hardline” stance, compared to Haniyeh, considered “more pragmatic”.
According to information from The New York Timesduring the current conflict, Sinwar has made radical demands for a ceasefire, suggesting an exchange of all Palestinians imprisoned in Israel for hostages held by Hamas.
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