Yahya Sinwar (1962-16 October 2024) was the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip from 13 February 2017 to 16 October 2024 and the political leader of Hamas from 6 August to 16 October 2024, succeeding Ismail Haniyeh.
Biography[]
Yahya Ibrahim Hassan Sinwar was born in Khan Yunis, Gaza Strip in 1962, and he was arrested in 1982 and 1985 for subversive activities. Sinwar cofounded Hamas' police force in 1985, and he was imprisoned from 1989 to 2011 for abducting and murdering two Israeli soldiers and four female Palestinian collaborators. He was released in a 2011 prisoner exchange and became ruler of the Gaza Strip in 2017, and he survived COVID-19 and an Israeli airstrike on his home on 15 May 2021. In 2023, Sinwar played a key role in planning and directing the "al-Aqsa Flood" surprise attack on southern Israel, and he was subsequently targeted by Israeli forces during Operation Iron Swords. In August 2024, Sinwar - who was hiding in Rafah - became Hamas' political leader on his rival Ismail Haniyeh's assassination in Tehran. That same month, he ordered the executions of six Israeli hostages. In October 2024, not far from the site of the executions, he was killed in a firefight with an Israeli tank at a booby-trapped building in Rafah, and DNA analysis on 17 October confirmed that he had been among the three Hamas militants killed in the random shootout.