DOHA, Qatar – After two days of negotiations in Doha, Hamas has named Yahya Sinwar as its new overall chief, following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week.
Sinwar, who has been the group’s leader inside the Gaza Strip since 2017, will now assume leadership of Hamas’s political wing.
The decision to appoint Sinwar was unanimous among Hamas’s leadership, a senior Hamas official told the BBC, signaling a clear message of defiance towards Israel.
“They killed Haniyeh, the flexible person who was open to solutions. Now they have to deal with Sinwar and the military leadership,” the official stated.
The announcement comes at a time of escalating tensions in the Middle East, with Iran and its allies threatening retaliation for Haniyeh’s killing, which they attribute to Israel. Israel has not commented on the assassination.
The Doha meetings involved extensive discussions among Hamas’s top figures, with multiple scenarios considered.
Ultimately, the decision came down to two candidates: Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Hassan Darwish, head of the General Shura Council.
The council voted unanimously for Sinwar, described as one of Hamas’s most extreme figures.
Sinwar, born in Khan Younis refugee camp in 1962, founded Hamas’s security service, Majd, in the late 1980s, targeting alleged Palestinian collaborators with Israel.
He has spent significant time in Israeli prisons, including a sentence of four life terms, before being released in a 2011 prisoner exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Known for his hardline stance, Sinwar is currently at the top of Israel’s most-wanted list.
Israeli security agencies hold him responsible for orchestrating the attacks on October 7, 2023, which resulted in over 1,200 deaths and 251 hostages taken into Gaza.
His appointment has intensified calls from Israeli officials for decisive action against Hamas.
“The appointment of arch-terrorist Yahya Sinwar as the new leader of Hamas is yet another compelling reason to swiftly eliminate him and wipe this vile organization off the face of the Earth,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a statement on X.
The Israeli Defense Forces spokesperson, Rear Adm Daniel Hagari, echoed this sentiment, labeling Sinwar as responsible for “the most brutal terrorist attack in history.”
Sinwar has not been seen in public since the October attacks and is believed to be hiding underground in Gaza.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken mentioned in June that Sinwar might be concealing himself “10 storeys underground.”
Javed Ali, a former US National Security Council official, suggested that Sinwar’s leadership could complicate ceasefire and hostage negotiations.
“He is much more inflexible and much more difficult to negotiate with,” Ali told the BBC.
