Reactions to Sinwar's election as Hamas political leader
The Palestinian militant group Hamas said Tuesday it has chosen Yahya Sinwar, its top official in Gaza who masterminded 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 Oct. 7 attack.
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 strike.
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 appeared in public but kept an iron grip on Hamas’ rule. Close to the armed wing, known as the Qassam Brigades, he 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.
- US -
Reacting to Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the Oct. 7 attack, becoming Hamas' new political leader, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sinwar has the power to ensure that a cease-fire deal is reached.
Sinwar "has been and remains the primary decider when it comes to concluding the cease-fire, and so I think this (today’s announcement) only underscores the fact that it’s really on him to decide whether to move forward with a cease-fire that manifestly will help so many Palestinians in desperate need, women, children, men who are caught in a crossfire," Blinken said. "... It really is on him."
- Israel -
The Israeli military’s chief spokesperson said Israel remains committed to killing Sinwar, in response to news about his election as leader of Hamas’ political bureau.
"There is only one place for Yahya Sinwar, and it is beside Mohammed Deif and the rest of the October 7th terrorists," Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in an interview with Saudi news channel Al-Arabiya.
Israel said it killed Deif, the head of Hamas’ military wing, in a huge strike in southern Gaza last month. Hamas has not confirmed Deif's death.
Sinwar, who is Hamas’ chief in Gaza, is considered along with Deif to be the chief architect of the deadly Oct. 7, on southern Israel, the act that sparked the Israel-Hamas.
Since then, Israel has repeatedly vowed to kill him.
"Yahya Sinwar is a terrorist, who is responsible for the most brutal terrorist attack in history — October 7th," Hagari said during the interview with Al-Arabiya.
Israel's foreign minister, for his part, called to "swiftly eliminate" Sinwar.
"The appointment of arch-terrorist Yahya Sinwar is yet another compelling reason to swiftly eliminate him and wipe this vile organization off the face of the Earth," Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a statement on social media site X.
- Hezbollah -
Hamas ally Hezbollah on Tuesday congratulated Yahya Sinwar on his selection as the Palestinian militant group's new political chief following the killing last week of his predecessor Ismail Haniyeh.
Sinwar's appointment affirms that "the enemy... has failed to achieve its objectives" by killing Hamas leaders and officials, a Hezbollah statement said.
It is also "a strong message" to Israel, the United States and allies that "the Hamas movement is united in its decision, solid in its principles, firm in its important choices, and determined" to continue on the path of resistance, the statement added.
