Yahya Sinwar | |
---|---|
يحيى السنوار | |
Chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau | |
Assumed office 6 August 2024 | |
Deputy | Khalil al-Hayya |
Preceded by | Ismail Haniyeh |
Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip | |
Assumed office 13 February 2017[1] | |
Prime Minister | |
Preceded by | Ismail Haniyeh |
Personal details | |
Born | Yahya Ibrahim Hassan Sinwar 29 October 1962 Khan Younis, Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip |
Nationality | Palestinian |
Political party | Hamas |
Spouse |
Samar Muhammad Abu Zamar
(m. 2011) |
Children | 3 (including Ibrahim) |
Relatives | Mohammed Sinwar (brother) |
Residence(s) | Khan Younis, Khan Younis Governorate, Gaza Strip, State of Palestine[2] |
Education | Islamic University of Gaza (BA) |
Nickname | Abu Ibrahim (Kunya) |
Palestinian nationalism Factions and leaders | ||
---|---|---|
Map: Birthplaces or family origins Details below: p. parents from, b. born in, d. death. | ||
| ||
Yahya Ibrahim Hassan Sinwar (Arabic: يحيى إبراهيم حسن السنوار, romanized: Yaḥyá Ibrāhīm Ḥasan al-Sinwār; born 29 October 1962), commonly known as Yahya Sinwar,[note 1][3] is a Palestinian politician, who has been the chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau since August 2024[4] and the Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip since February 2017, succeeding Ismail Haniyeh in both roles.[5][6]
Sinwar was born in the Khan Yunis refugee camp in Egyptian-ruled Gaza in 1962 to a family, who had been expelled or fled from Ashkelon during the 1948 Palestine War.[7] He finished his studies at the Islamic University of Gaza where he received a bachelor's degree in Arabic Studies.[8] For orchestrating the abduction and killing of two Israeli soldiers and four Palestinians he considered to be collaborators in 1989, Sinwar was sentenced to four life sentences by Israel, of which he served 22 years until his release among 1,026 others in a 2011 prisoner exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.[5] Sinwar was one of the co-founders of the security apparatus of Hamas.[9][10][11][12]
In 2017, Sinwar was elected the leader of Hamas in Gaza, and claimed to pursue "peaceful, popular resistance" to the Israeli occupation the following year, having supported the 2018–2019 Gaza border protests.[13] He was re-elected as the leader of Hamas in 2021, and was subject to an assassination attempt by Israel that year. Sinwar is regarded as the mastermind behind the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023,[14][15][16][17] and has strong connections with Iran.[18][19][20]
In September 2015, Sinwar was designated a terrorist by the United States government.[9] Hamas and the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades have been designated terrorist organisations by the United States, the European Union, and other countries. In May 2024, Karim Khan, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, announced his intention to apply for an arrest warrant for Sinwar for war crimes and crimes against humanity, as part of the ICC investigation in Palestine.[21]
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