Yahya Sinwar, Hamas chief in Gaza, was announced by the group as the new leader of the political bureau after the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh recently in Tehran on 31 July. The Palestinian group which announced the news on Tuesday is still at large.
Specifically, the movement said in a statement: “Hamas the Islamic Resistance Movement announces its choosing Commander Yahya Sinwar as the head of the political bureau of the movement instead of the martyr Ismail Hannia,” [may Allah have mercy on him.
Sinwar, 61, is considered by Israel the guru of the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israeli territory, ending up with over 1,100 deaths and over 200 captives. The succeeding military action in Gaza regulated by Israel has caused around 40 000 Palestinian fatalities, which included thousands of women and children noncombatants; nearly all of Gaza’s population of 2. inflicted immense suffering on the 3 million population of Gaza, hence deteriorating their lives into scarcity of food and health complications.
The Israeli onslaught has also brought forth details of organised violations of human rights, and those detained have been tortured brutally.
Impact of Haniyeh’s Assassination
That, as many regarded Haniye’s assassination as an act carried out by Israel to frustrate attempts to reach a cease-fire brokered by Haniye, who played a vital role as an emissary for the blockade imposed on Gaza by the Netanyahu government.
In this respect, various political scientists agree that this decision means Gazan’s relevancy in the overall political plan of the Hamas movement. Nour Odeh, a political analyst based in Ramallah, said to Al Jazeera: ‘He [Sinwar] has skyrocketed to an influential position in Hamas moving it in Gaza. The choice of Hamas to name him leader of the movement now puts Gaza at the centre of whatever is happening on the ground, not to mention the dynamics in the movement’, she said, referring to how the choice of Sinwar is sending a signal that Gaza is the decisive actor.
Hezbollah’s Endorsement
Hezbollah endorsed Sinwar’s election on Tuesday, saying that the receipt of the power plan shows a united Hamas to both Israel and America. The group said that while choosing the brother Yahya Sinwar from the heart of the Gazan enclave, currently with the resistance fighters and between the children of his people, in the rubble, the blockade, killings and starvation, the group declared that the goals the enemy seeks to achieve through the assassination of leaders have not been met.
Biography of Sinwar and His Current Employment
Sinwar was born in a dominant refugee camp near Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip and was the head of the Al-Majd security formation, engaged in hunting Palestinians who were believed to be spies of Israel. He assumed the position of the Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip in 2017, making him the head of the faction’s political bureau. Sinwar is among other leaders in the Hamas group, and the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for them on charges of war crimes on October 7. Arrest warrants have also been issued for Netanyahu and other Israeli officials, the defence chief, YOAV Gallant included, for crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Nevertheless, due to Israel’s operation pledged to annihilate Hamas alongside the armed campaign launched against Gaza, the Palestinian group remains unsubdued. Sinwar has managed not to be apprehended by Israel, even after Galant said that Sinwar was living on borrowed time after the incident on October 7.
Al Jazeera senior political analyst Marwan Bishara said: “Obviously, the concentration on Gaza, the concentration on Sinwar, and his being there, to my mind, is a defiance signal and tends to point to the reality that Hamas is here to stay in this realm and its leader is there.
