Who is Yahya Sinwar? Shadowy Hamas leader in Gaza is at top of Israel’s hit list
- Israel has vowed to kill Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and crush the militant group that rules Gaza
- Sinwar is believed to have engineered the surprise October 7 Hamas attack into southern Israel
The mastermind of the Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the worst Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed in generations is a secretive figure, feared on both sides of the battle lines.
In Gaza, no figure looms larger in determining the future trajectory of the war than Yahya Sinwar. Obsessive, disciplined and dictatorial, he is Hamas’ top leader inside the Palestinian territory, a rarely seen veteran militant who learned fluent Hebrew during years in Israeli prisons and carefully studied his enemy.
Israeli officials have vowed to kill him and crush the militant group that has ruled Gaza since 2007. But seven weeks into the war, the 61-year-old Sinwar remains alive, in hiding and at the helm of Hamas’ fighters as they battle Israeli forces.
He also controls the group’s negotiations over the fate of nearly 240 hostages that militants captured during the October 7 attack.
With the devastating toll from Israel’s bombardment and ground invasion, Sinwar’s political fate may now depend on how the war ends and whether Palestinians feel they gained anything from their immense losses.
If he can win the release of all Palestinian prisoners and the lifting of the 16-year blockade of Gaza, people will feel they obtained something, said Hani al-Masri, a veteran Palestinian analyst.