Hamas names Yahya Sinwar as its new leader as tensions rise in the Middle East

7 August 2024, 09:06

Hamas has named Yahya Sinwar as its new overall chief, taking over from Ismail Haniyeh who was assassinated in Tehran last week.

The announcement was made after two days of intensive negotiations in Doha.

Haniyeh has acted as Hamas’ leader inside the Gaza Strip since 2017 but will now take over the group’s political wing.

Tensions have soared in the Middle East since the assassination of Haniyeh, which Hamas and Iran blame on Israel.

Israel has not admitted responsibility for the killing.

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Naming Sinwar as its new leader marks “a message of defiance to Israel”, a Hamas source told the BBC.

“They killed Haniyeh, the flexible person who was open to solutions.

“Now they have to deal with Sinwar and the military leadership,” the official said.

Yahya Sinwar is viewed as one of Hamas’ most hardline members, a stark contrast to Haniyeh’s diplomatic approach to relations with Israel.

Sinwar is currently top of Israel’s most-wanted list, with Benjamin Netanyahu’s government branding him the mastermind behind the October 7 attacks, which left over 1,200 people dead.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a statement on 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 organisation off the face of the Earth.

“Yahya Sinwar is a terrorist, who is responsible for the most brutal terrorist attack in history," Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Adm Daniel Hagari told Al-Arabiya.

Sinwar was born in the Gaza Strip in 1962.

In the 1980s, Sinwar founded the Hamas security service known as Majd and has spent much of his life in Israeli jails.

Since October 7, Israel has launched an offensive that has killed more than 39,000 people, according to local health authorities, displacing more than 80% of the territory's people and triggering a humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip.