Hamas on Friday confirmed the death of their chief and the mastermind of the October 7 attack, Yahya Sinwar, in a statement that said, "We mourn the great leader, the martyred brother, Yahya Sinwar, Abu Ibrahim," Qatar-based Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya said in a recorded video statement.
IDF on Thursday claimed to have killed the Hamas chief in an apparent drone strike on a compound that he had been using to hide since the October 7 assault.
He was Israel’s most wanted man; the IDF has repeatedly said that he (Sinwar) was their main target, along with the top Hamas leadership majority, all of whom have been eliminated in Israeli action in Gaza.
Sinwar was among the three Hamas militants killed in the operation, with his identity being confirmed with the help of a DNA test using Sinwar’s sample from his time in imprisonment in Israel.
Born in Khan Younis refugee camp in south Gaza in 1962, when the region used to be under Egyptian control. His parents were expelled from Ashkelon by Zionist forces in 1948 during the Palestinian Nakba (“catastrophe”), which saw mass-scale ethnic cleansing of Arabs amidst the formation of the state of Israel.
He joined the Muslim Brotherhood in the early 1980s and, later on, was arrested by the Israeli forces at the Islamic University of Gaza during the anti-Israel protests.
He is the founding member of one of Hamas’s internal security forces, Al Majd, which looks after the security of the top Hamas officials and leaders inside Gaza.
This force is considered one of the most important wings of Hamas, as they target and eliminate Israeli intelligence officers, Mossad agents, and collaborators inside Gaza and Hamas.
Sinwar used to have direct control over the al-Majd wing, and with his help, they are suspected of killing several Israeli intelligence officials.
It was Sinwar who founded one of the fearsome Al-Qassam brigades, the military wing of Hamas and the largest militia operating inside Gaza before the October 7 assault. Israeli forces since the Gaza invasion have been battling to limit or defeat the Al-Qassam brigade in Gaza.
He spent 22 years in Israeli prison before being released in 2011 as a massive prisoner swap with Israel. Shortly after release, he assumed power and quickly rose through the ranks of the group and became Hamas’s leader in Gaza in 2017 by replacing Ismail Haniyeh.
Months before his assassination, he was elevated to the position of Hamas Politburo chief this August after Haniyeh was killed in a targeted missile strike in Iran.
The October 7 attack saw Hamas fighters break Israeli defences, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 150 Israelis hostage. This was the biggest flare-up in Gaza in years and raised major questions about the readiness of Israel’s defence apparatus.
With Sinwar dead, Israel has already claimed victory, although this killing as per Hamas would only strengthen the resolve of the group.
However, whatever the case, Sinwar’s killing will drastically shift momentum in favour of the Israeli side, as he was known for his military prowess and understanding of the IDF’s structure and operational capabilities.
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