Hamas says that it has chosen Yahya Sinwar, its top official in Gaza, who masterminded the October 7 attacks, as its new leader.

Hamas said in a statement that it had named Sinwar as its new political bureau chief to replace Ismail Haniya, who was killed in Iran last week in a possible Israeli strike.

Hamas’ new Political Bureau Chief

Sinwar has not made any public appearances since the October 7 attack in southern Israel led by Hamas, in which terrorists killed 1,200 people and took about 250 hostage, sparking Israel’s 10-month-old campaign in Gaza.

Yahya Sinwar was elected in February 2017 as head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. He spent 23 years in Israeli prisons before being released in 2011 in a prisoner exchange.

He was born in Khan Yunis, a city in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, and joined Hamas from its founding in 1987, the year of the first Intifada (uprising).

A former commander of the al-Qassam Brigades and considered to be the “mastermind” of the October 7 attack, he is wanted by Israel and is on the United States’ “international terrorist” list.

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