Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the man behind the October 7 attack in Southern Israel last year, has been killed, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Thursday. The IDF also released drone footage of the 62-year-old’s last moments. In the video, Sinwar appears to be sitting on a couch inside a destroyed house surrounded by rubble.
Who was Yahya Sinwar?
Yahya Sinwar, known as Abu Ibrahim, was a key figure in Hamas leadership. He mostly stayed undercover in tunnels beneath Gaza. Sinwar was famous for his high level of secrecy. His assassination marks a crucial moment in Israel’s over-a-year-long war in Gaza.
Sinwar was believed to be the chief architect of Hamas’ military strategy. In August, he was chosen to lead Hamas’ political office after the assassination of the group’s then-chief Ismail Haniyeh.
Videos of Israeli troops searching the hideout surfaced on social media. In one of the videos, two Israeli soldiers are standing next to a body (claimed to be Yahya Sinwar’s) with the index finger of the left hand being chopped off. Meanwhile, CNN in its report said they analysed videos which showed his left hand with all five fingers, and then later with one finger missing.
Read more: Bullet In Head, Finger Cut Off: Chilling Details Of Yahya Sinwar’s Autopsy
Early life
Born on October 29, 1962, at a refugee camp in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza region, Sinwar’s family, along with several hundreds of other Palestinian Arabs, was displaced from the village of Al-Majdal — now called the Ashkelon city in Israel — during the first Arab-Israeli war.
During the early 1980s, Sinwar was enrolled in Gaza’s Islamic University where he studied Arabic. He was involved in the Palestinian nationalist student organisations and even detained for his participation in anti-occupation activism. Even before Hamas came into existence, Sinwar, in 1985, helped organise the Majd, an Islamist youths’ network, which worked towards exposing Palestinian informants working with and for Israel.
After the first Intifada of 1987 and the formation of Hamas, Sinwar joined the group upon its founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin’s insistence. He was made the chief of the internal security unit — Al Majd. As part of Hamas, he was tasked with finding and punishing those suspected of violating Islamic morality laws and cooperating with Israeli occupiers — a job that landed him in major trouble with the Israeli authorities.
Life in prison
In 1988, Yahya Sinwar was accused of abducting and killing two Israeli soldiers. The same year, he was arrested and convicted by Israel for the murder of 12 Palestinians, according to BBC. Following his conviction, Sinwar was given four life sentences.
Inside the prison, Sinwar learned Hebrew, besides developing an understanding of Israeli culture and society. He is believed to have taken advantage of an online university programme and devoured Israeli news. Sinwar translated thousands of pages of Hebrew-language autobiographies into Arabic. These were allegedly written by former heads of Shin Bet, Israel’s security agency.
Not just that, Yahya Sinwar even abused and manipulated his fellow prisoners and punished the inmates, who he thought were informants, apart from bullying others to undertake hunger strikes, CNN reported.
Sinwar is said to have tried several ways to escape from prison. Once, he even dug a hole in the floor of his cell, hoping to find a tunnel beneath and exit via the visitor centre.
After more than two decades in prison, Sinwar was released in 2011 as part of a prisoner swap. He was one of the 1,000 Palestinian prisoners released in exchange for Gilad Shalit, an IDF soldier held in Gaza for nearly five years.
Life after prison
After coming out of prison, Gilad Shalit termed the exchange as one of the “big strategic monuments” in the history of their cause. His release was attributed to the fact that his brother was among Shalit’s kidnappers, thereby insisting on Sinwar being included in the exchange deal. Upon his return to Gaza, Sinwar was almost instantly accepted as a leader. He soon rose through the ranks of Hamas and was back to punishing suspected collaborators.
Utilising his Hebrew skills, Yahya Sinwar even urged the Israeli public to support a truce with Hamas, during his interview with an Israeli broadcaster. “We will not recognise Israel, but we are ready to do a long-term truce with Israel that will bring calm and prosperity to the region,” he said.
Israeli authorities described him as “cruel, authoritative, influential,” with significant endurance, manipulative tendencies, and the ability to rally crowds. Sinwar’s ability to maintain authority inside prison, including negotiating with prison authorities and enforcing discipline among inmates, helped solidify his position as a key Hamas leader.
Read more: 13 Years Ago, Hamas Chief Yahya Sinwar Was Released By Israel In Swap Deal
Following his release, Sinwar called for more kidnappings of Israeli soldiers. His time in prison had not softened his stance; instead, it appeared to have intensified his commitment to Hamas’s goals.
In 2015, Sinwar was designated as a global terrorist by the US Department of State and the European Union. In recent years, the United Kingdom and France also sanctioned him. He was elected as a member of the Hamas’ politburo in Gaza in 2013. He became the group leader in 2017.
Although in 2018, he signalled to Israel that Hamas’ tactics were moving towards non-armed resistance, he later changed his stance in late 2022 when Israel elected a right-wing government.
In 2021, Israel attacked his home and office in the Gaza Strip, but he survived.
Closeness with Iran
Sinwar’s closeness with Iran wasn’t a natural or obvious one, but the shared goal of liberating Jerusalem from Israeli occupation brought the Shia country closer to a Sunni Arab organisation and its leader.
Iran has reportedly funded, armed and trained Hamas to help them fight against Israel. In a 2021 speech, Sinwar thanked Iran for its support. “Had it not been for Iran, the resistance in Palestine would not have possessed its current capabilities,” he said.
Personal life
Not much is known about Yahya Sinwar’s personal life. After his release from prison, Sinwar got married and had children. He spoke little about his family in public, but once said that “the first words my son spoke were ‘father,’ ‘mother’ and ‘drone.'”
