Main Information
The Israeli defense forces announced this week that they are getting closer to the home of one of their major targets, Yahya Sinwar, a former Israeli prisoner and leader of the extremist Hamas movement based in Gaza, who is referred to by Israeli officials as a “walking dead man”.
Yahya Sinwar, head of Hamas, has been described as a “walking dead man” by Israeli officials.
Key Facts
Sinwar, who has been labeled by Israeli officials as the mastermind behind the Hamas attack on October 7 against Israel, hails from southern Gaza and joined Hamas – an Islamic group founded in 1987 – in the late 1980s, gaining recognition as a founder of the group’s intelligence apparatus, known as the Mujahid and Da’wah organization, also referred to as Majd.
In 1989, Sinwar was sentenced to life imprisonment for four consecutive terms for the kidnapping and murder of two Israeli soldiers and spent time in an Israeli prison – where he reportedly learned Hebrew – until his release in 2011, as part of a massive prisoner exchange deal in which Israeli authorities released over 1,000 prisoners in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped by Hamas.
Since his release from prison, Sinwar has participated in multiple rounds of fighting against Israel, including an 11-day crisis in May 2021, when Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad launched rockets at Israel, and Israel carried out airstrikes on Gaza.
In 2015, the U.S. State Department designated Sinwar as a global terrorist, prohibiting American citizens from dealing with him – and he has also been sanctioned by the United Kingdom and France.
Sinwar, 61, was elected as the leader of Hamas in Gaza in 2017 in a secret vote, where he presented a public platform for peaceful and popular resistance despite his reputation as a hardliner, and he was re-elected for a second four-year presidential term in 2021, just a few months before another round of Hamas rocket attacks on Israel.
Sinwar has also gained notoriety as a critic of Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority and its ruling party Fatah – which competes with Hamas and controls the West Bank, not Gaza – where Sinwar pledged at a celebratory rally marking the 35th anniversary of Hamas last year to “ignite the resistance in the West Bank”.
At that rally, Sinwar vowed to come to Israel “with God’s permission, in a massive flood” and “with endless rockets” and “millions of our people, like the recurring tide”, according to a translation by Reuters.
While Israeli officials have pointed to Sinwar as a driving force behind the Hamas attack on October 7, Harrel Shoriv, a senior researcher in Middle Eastern studies at Tel Aviv University, told CNN this week that Sinwar was one of “three senior officials” in Hamas planning the attack on Israel.
Shoriv also told CNN that Sinwar is considered the “most significant” among the senior Hamas officials, although he noted that Sinwar is just one of several “centers of power” within Hamas, which Shoriv said maintains an “open” organizational structure, with some senior leaders living in Qatar.
In the past, Sinwar has publicly expressed caution regarding war with Israel, stating to Italian journalist Francesca Borri in 2018 that “the new war is not in anyone’s interest”, adding that Hamas would be ready to negotiate with Israel in exchange for lifting the Israeli and Egyptian blockade of Gaza (which has been in place since Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007).
As a result, several media outlets reported that Israeli analysts believe that Hamas leaders – including Sinwar – were not interested in further fighting, an impression that changed after the October 7 attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,200 people in Israel and the capture of about 240 hostages.
Background
Home
Fighting in the Gaza Strip resumed late last week after a series of temporary ceasefires came to an end. In response to increasing demands from Western leaders for a ceasefire, Israel and Hamas reached an agreement for a temporary ceasefire lasting four days late last month, with Hamas pledging to release some of the hostages it took during its attack on October 7, and Israel agreeing to free about 150 Palestinians held in its prisons. The ceasefire was extended for an additional two days on the condition of releasing more hostages, although this truce came to an abrupt end last week when Israeli defense forces accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire and resumed their airstrikes on the Gaza Strip – as Hamas released only over 100 hostages. In recent days, fighting has focused around Hamas’s stronghold in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, after initial Israeli raids concentrated on Gaza City in the northern part of the territory. On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted that Israeli defense forces had surrounded Sinwar’s house in Khan Younis, although the movement believes the Hamas leader is hiding deep within the group’s extensive tunnels. In his tweet, Netanyahu acknowledged that Sinwar’s house “is not his fortress, and he can escape, but it is a matter of time until we find him.”
The Big Number
More than 18,200. This is the estimated number of people killed in the fighting since Hamas launched its attack on Israel on October 7, leading to Israel declaring war. This number includes over 17,000 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, as well as about 1,200 people killed in Israel during Hamas’s attack on October 7, according to Israeli officials.
Additional Information
Israel reported on Wednesday that it has killed about half of Hamas’s mid-level leaders in Gaza, although it has not killed members of Hamas’s leadership, including Sinwar and Mohammad Deif, head of Hamas’s military wing, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.
Further Reading
Fighting in Gaza resumed after Israel launched airstrikes following accusations that Hamas violated the ceasefire (Forbes).
Israel and Hamas reach an agreement to release hostages in exchange for a 4-day ceasefire (Forbes).
Send me secure tips. Brian Bushard
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