Hamas chooses new political leader after Haniyeh assassination

Hamas announced Yahya Sinwar on Tuesday (6) as the new political head of the Islamic group a week after the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, then leader of the party, in Tehran, the capital of Iran.

“Hamas announces the selection of Brother Leader Yahya Sinwar as head of the movement’s political bureau, succeeding the late leader Ismail Haniyeh, may God have mercy on him,” Hamas said in a statement.

Haniyeh was assassinated in the Persian capital after attending an event marking the inauguration of Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian. Haniyeh was staying at a military facility in the city when a bomb was remotely detonated at around 2 a.m. local time.

Yahya Sinwar is 61 years old and was born in a refugee camp south of Khan Younis. During the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip, Sinwar was first arrested by Israel in 1982, at the age of 19, for “Islamic activities” and then arrested again in 1985.

During this time, he gained the trust of Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. Two years after Hamas was founded in 1987, he created the group’s internal security organization, Al-Majd. Al-Majd was tasked with combating Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel. Decades later, in 2017, Sinwar was elected leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Sinwar is also a former commander of the elite Al-Qasam Brigades.

Despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge to eliminate Hamas, the Palestinian armed group continues to hold out in Gaza. Sinwar has also managed to evade capture by Israel, despite Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s statement that Sinwar is living “on borrowed time.”

For Al Jazeera political analyst Marwan Bishara, the choice of Sinwar represents a challenge to Israel. “I think the focus on Gaza and Sinwar is an important sign of defiance,” Bishara said. “Hamas is not about to lose Gaza. Hamas remains a power inside Gaza and therefore its leader must be there.”