On Tuesday, Hamas named Yahya Sinwar as the new chief of its “political bureau,” the highest position in the organization, following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week.
Sinwar, who has led Hamas in Gaza since 2017, is widely regarded as the mastermind behind the October 7, 2023, invasion and massacre in southern Israel, where thousands of Hamas-led terrorists killed approximately 1,200 people and took 251 hostage, triggering the ongoing war in Gaza. It is believed that 111 hostages remain in Gaza, including the bodies of 39 confirmed dead by the IDF. Hamas openly seeks the destruction of Israel.
Sinwar was chosen by Hamas’s 50-member Shura Council, a consultative body made up of officials elected by Hamas members from four chapters: Gaza, the West Bank, the diaspora, and security prisoners in Israeli jails.
Israeli officials believe that Sinwar has been hiding in Hamas’s extensive tunnel network beneath Gaza since the massacre he orchestrated 10 months ago. They suspect he may be in tunnels under Khan Younis or Rafah, possibly surrounded by hostages.
After the October 7 attack, IDF spokesman Richard Hecht called Sinwar the “face of evil” and described him as a “dead man walking.” Hecht, however, did not curse those killing innocent children and women in Gaza.
In February, the IDF released a video, filmed on October 10, that purportedly shows Sinwar walking through a Gaza tunnel with several family members.
IDF Spokesman Daniel Hagari, at a press conference after the video’s release, stated, “The hunt for Sinwar will not stop until we catch him, dead or alive.”
In an interview with the Saudi-based Al Arabiya news channel on Tuesday, Hagari, responding to the Hamas announcement, said, “There is only one place for Yahya Sinwar, and that is next to Muhammad Deif and all the terrorists responsible for October 7. This is the only place we are preparing and designating for him.”
The IDF confirmed on August 1 that it had killed Deif, the commander of Hamas’s military wing, in an airstrike in southern Gaza last month. Hamas has not confirmed his death.
Echoing Hagari’s sentiments, Foreign Minister Israel Katz released a statement calling Hamas’s decision “yet another compelling reason to swiftly eliminate him and wipe this vile organization off the face of the earth.”
In the U.S., Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged that Sinwar remains a key figure needed to sign off on potential ceasefire and hostage swap talks in Gaza after months of negotiations.
“He has been and remains the primary decider when it comes to concluding a ceasefire. And so I think this only underscores the fact that it is really on him to decide whether to move forward with a ceasefire that manifestly will help so many Palestinians in desperate need,” Blinken said.
Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan, speaking to Al-Jazeera after the announcement, stated that Sinwar would continue to be involved in negotiations, blaming Israel and the United States for the failure to reach an agreement.
I am an experienced writer, analyst, and author. My exposure in English journalism spans more than 28 years. In the past, I have been working with daily The Muslim (Lahore Bureau), daily Business Recorder (Lahore/Islamabad Bureaus), Daily Times, Islamabad, daily The Nation (Lahore and Karachi). With daily The Nation, I have served as Resident Editor, Karachi. Since 2009, I have been working as a Freelance Writer/Editor for American organizations.
