After the death of Ismail Haniyehlast July, Hamas chose unanimously Yahya Sinwar as its political leader. Sinwar is one of the founders, alongside the first historic leader, Sheikh Yassin, of the Palestinian resistance movement of which he was commander.
For 23 years at the head of the Hamas security apparatus, since 2021 he has been Hamas’ number one in Gaza. Unlike other leaders such as Haniyeh or Khaled Meshal, Sinwar has never left Gaza and his election sends a precise signal: regroup the ranks and fight.
Born in 1962 in Khan Younis refugee camp, Sinwar he grows up in the myth of resistance and in the anger of the injustice experienced by his familyoriginally from Ashkelon but forced to migrate to one of the most populous and harshest refugee camps in Gaza. Also in Khan Younis, it is no coincidence that Mohammed Deif was born, head of the military wing of Hamas, founder of the Ezzedin el Qassam brigades, whose death was announced by the Israeli army in an attack in July this year, but not confirmed by the Islamic movement.
Sinwar’s first arrest came in 1982 and his detention lasted only a year. What caused him to end up in prison was his closeness to Salah Shehadeh, one of the historic leaders of Hamas and former head of the Ezzedin el Qassam brigades. Sinwar is in fact part of an anti-espionage unit of the Palestinian resistance. The first arrest did not prevent Sinwar from participating, again in 1987, in the founding of the Islamic resistance movement.
In 1988 a second arrest and 4 life sentences for participating in an attack in which two Israeli soldiers lost their lives. He also orders the killing of four Palestinians accused of collaboration with the Jewish state. He remained in prison for 23 years, until the exchange in 2011 with the soldier Shalit, kidnapped by the Ezzedin el Qassam brigades in 2006.
Four years pass since his liberation and SInwar enters the United States’ international wanted list. Two years later he completed his rise within the movement and became number two in the political office, behind Ismail Haniyeh. But if Haniyeh has acted from abroad for years and held roles of political representation, Sinwar has always been the real leader of Hamas in Gaza, on the territory. Power maintained with an iron fist towards the militiamen and zero tolerance with the corrupt, such as the execution of Mahmoud Ishitvi’s commander, guilty of having stolen money from the movement.