(Left) Yahya Sinwar, (Right) The aftermath of Hamas’ attacks on southern Israel
Getty Images & Reuters
Israeli is focused on hunting down a Hamas leader whom they blame for the October 7 attacks.
Yahya Sinwar was nicknamed “the Butcher from Khan Younis” for killing Palestinian collaborators.
Israeli media has dubbed Sinwar the “new face of evil.”
A military spokesman said the Israel Defense Forces are particularly intent on killing Yahya Sinwar, a top Hamas official, The New York Times reports.
Sinwar is the current leader of Hamas, having taken over from Ismail Haniyeh in 2017, per The Guardian.
As Gaza’s de facto ruler, Sinwar is the highest-ranking Hamas official in Gaza. He is Hamas’ most powerful leader after Haniyeh, who lives in exile in Qatar, The Telegraph reported.
The Hamas government and its offices are based in Gaza City, which is currently under siege by Israeli forces.
Israel holds Sinwar accountable for the terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7, which killed over 1,300 Israelis and foreign nationals.
The ‘new face of evil’
Palestinian militants march with their weapons in Khan Younis refugee camp south of the Gaza Strip March 27, 2005.
REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa AJ/JJ
Yahya Ibrahim Hassan Sinwar was born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Gaza in 1962, according to The Jewish Virtual Library. He pursued Arabic studies at the Islamic University of Gaza.
In the 1980s, Sinwar’s job was to kill Gazans who collaborated with Israel, per The Economist.
In 2015, the US Department of State designated Sinwar a terrorist.
“We will take down the border, and we will tear their hearts from their bodies,” Sinwar reportedly said in 2018, as quoted by the IDF.
On October 7, under Sinwar’s leadership, hundreds of Hamas fighters breached the fences surrounding Gaza, after drones knocked out hi-tech observation towers and a huge rocket barrage was unleashed on Israel. They poured into southern Israel’s surrounding kibbutzes and towns and massacred 1,300 people in coordinated terrorist attacks.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid dubbed him the “new face of evil.”
“That man is in our sights,” said Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, a military spokesman, per The New York Times. “He’s a dead man walking, and we will get to that man,” he said. “He built his career on murdering Palestinians when he understood they were collaborators. That’s how he became known as the butcher of Khan Younis,” said Col. Hecht, per LBC News.
He is considered to be a key figure connecting Hamas’s politburo with the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing, per The European Council on Foreign Relations.
Israel has arrested Sinwar multiple times, and he has spent 24 years in prison, per the European Council of Foreign Relations. He was released during a prisoner exchange with Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011.
A 2022 security analysis determined that the Palestinian Authority’s weakness and Israel’s inaction on undermining Hamas’ control strengthened Sinwar and Hamas’ leadership. Hamas was able to connect various fronts against Israel, per The Institute for National Security Studies of Tel-Aviv University
The analysis predicted that the temporary calm amid Sinwar and Hamas’ increased power would exact a “heavy toll from Israel in longer, strategic terms.”
The IDF said destroying Gaza’s leadership was its ultimate goal as it prepares to launch a ground invasion of the besieged city, The New York Times reports. Tens of thousands of Hamas militants are believed to have entrenched themselves in an elaborate network of underground tunnels.
The invasion’s goal will be “the rout of Hamas and the elimination of its leaders after the slaughter they perpetrated,” said Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the IDF’s chief spokesman, per The Times.
“Yahya Sinwar is the commander of the campaign, and he is a dead man,” Hagari said in a press conference, per The Times of Israel.
The IDF said Thursday that it was prepping more than 350,000 reservists for a possible ground war in Gaza, although a decision to invade the 140-square-mile strip has not yet been made.