Middle East CrisisHamas Names an Architect of Oct. 7 Attacks as New Political Leader
Hamas announced on Tuesday that Yahya Sinwar, one of the masterminds behind the deadly Oct. 7 attack, was selected as the next head of the group’s political office, consolidating his power over the militant group as it continues to fight Israel.
Long viewed by Israeli officials as a sophisticated strategist with a keen understanding of Israeli society, Mr. Sinwar has been Hamas’s leader in Gaza since 2017. But he will now also replace Ismail Haniyeh, the group’s former top political leader, who was a key liaison in the indirect cease-fire talks with Israel.
The decision by Hamas was an indication that 10 months into the war, the Palestinian group’s leaders remain firmly behind the decision to attack southern Israel on Oct. 7, analysts said. Israel’s campaign in Gaza has since killed tens of thousands and devastated large swaths of the enclave.
Mr. Haniyeh was killed in an explosion last week in Tehran as he was attending the inauguration of Iran’s new president. Hamas and Iran both blamed Israel for his assassination, although Israel has not publicly taken responsibility.
Israeli officials have vowed to take down Mr. Sinwar in retaliation for launching the Oct. 7 attack, which they say killed about 1,200 and led to roughly 250 being taken captive back to Gaza. Mr. Sinwar is widely believed to be hiding out in tunnels underneath the enclave to avoid Israeli assassination.
Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, said in a post on the social media platform X: “The appointment of arch-terrorist Yahya Sinwar as the new leader of Hamas, replacing Ismail Haniyeh, is yet another compelling reason to swiftly eliminate him and wipe this vile organization off the face of the earth.”
Osama Hamdan, a Hamas official, said that Mr. Sinwar had been chosen unanimously and had been accepted by everyone in the movement.
Mr. Hamdan said it was “too early” to discuss how Mr. Sinwar’s selection would affect the cease-fire talks. “The team that followed the negotiations during the presence of Haniyeh will follow them under the supervision of Sinwar,” he said.
Born in Khan Younis, Mr. Sinwar joined Hamas in the 1980s. He was later imprisoned on charges of murdering Palestinians accused of apostasy or of collaborating with Israel. He spent over two decades in prison in Israel and was ultimately freed in 2011, along with more than 1,000 other Palestinian prisoners, in exchange for a single Israeli soldier held by Hamas.
The leaders of Hamas’s political office have usually been based outside Gaza or the West Bank as the role has often demanded travel. In Mr. Sinwar’s case, it appeared unlikely that he would leave Gaza, even if he avoided being killed by Israel by the end of the war.
Fuad Khuffash, a Palestinian political analyst close to Hamas, said Mr. Sinwar’s appointment was “a symbolic decision” that showed that many Hamas officials agreed with his approach. “It is more of an honorific than a practical matter,” he said.
Even before Oct. 7, Mr. Sinwar was in some ways more influential than Mr. Haniyeh within the organization in his role as Hamas’s governor of Gaza. While Mr. Haniyeh served as a diplomatic face for the group abroad, Mr. Sinwar controlled events on the ground in Gaza and enjoyed close ties with Hamas’s military wing, analysts said.
Mr. Sinwar has rarely surfaced since the Oct. 7 attacks, which prompted Israel’s devastating 10-month military campaign in Gaza. But as Hamas’s commander on the ground, he has played a decisive role in deciding whether the group will move toward a cease-fire with Israel.
Without Mr. Sinwar’s approval, no truce could go forward, people with knowledge of the talks have said. Israeli officials and regional mediators have frequently spent days waiting for Hamas’s leaders in Qatar to receive word from Mr. Sinwar.
Another top role in Hamas — that of deputy political chief — has remained vacant since Israel assassinated Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut, Lebanon, in January. Mr. Khuffash suggested that role could be filled by Khalil al-Hayya, one of the group’s chief negotiators with Israel, or Khaled Meshal, a former politburo chief. Both men had been seen as possible successors to Mr. Haniyeh.
In May, Karim Khan, the prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, announced that he would request warrants for the arrest of Mr. Sinwar and two other Hamas leaders. Mr. Khan said Mr. Sinwar, alongside the other Hamas officials, might have been responsible for severe crimes against humanity, including “the killing of hundreds of Israeli civilians.”
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