Hamas names Yahya Sinwar, mastermind of Oct. 7 attacks, as new leader after assassination of Ismail Haniyeh

The Palestinian militant group Hamas said Tuesday it has chosen Yahya Sinwar, its top official in Gaza and mastermind of the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, as its new leader.

The choice of Sinwar, a secretive figure who leads Hamas’ hardliners and is close to Iran, was a defiant step. Sinwar is at the top of Israel’s kill list as it seeks to destroy Hamas and its leadership after the October attack in which militants killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and took about 250 hostages.

Hamas said in a statement it named Sinwar as the new head of its political bureau to replace Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Iran last week in a presumed Israeli assassination. Also last week, Israel said it had confirmed the death of the head of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, in a July airstrike in Gaza. Hamas has not confirmed his death.

Unlike Haniyeh, who had lived in exile in Qatar for years, Sinwar has remained in Gaza. As Hamas’ leader in the territory since 2017, he rarely appears in public but keeps an iron grip on Hamas rule. Close to Deif and the armed wing, known as the Qassam Brigades, Sinwar worked to build up the group’s military capabilities.

Sinwar has been in deep hiding since the Oct. 7 attacks, while Israel unleashed its campaign in Gaza and the death toll among Palestinians, now near 40,000, rose.

In an interview with Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV, IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari called Sinwar “a terrorist,” adding, “There is only one place for Yahya Sinwar, and it is beside Mohammed Deif and the rest of the October 7th terrorists. That is the only place we’re preparing and intending for him.”