PROFILE - Yahya Sinwar: From Israeli prisons to leading Hamas amid Gaza genocide

By Anadolu staff

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – The Israeli army claimed Thursday to have killed Hamas political chief Yahya Sinwar in a military operation in the Gaza Strip.

In an official statement on X, Israeli army spokesperson Avichae Adree confirmed “the elimination” of Sinwar in Gaza.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz also confirmed the killing.

The military admitted that there were no signs of the presence of hostages in the area where Sinwar was killed.

Sinwar was selected as the Hamas political chief last August, replacing Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in the Iranian capital Tehran after he attended the swearing-in ceremony of Iran’s new president on July 31.
The selection of Sinwar, 61, as the resistance group’s top leader reflected his history with Hamas. He has served as Hamas’ top official in Gaza for two consecutive terms, the first starting in 2017 and the second in 2021.

- Early life

Yahya Ibrahim Hassan Sinwar was born in 1962 in the Khan Younis refugee camp in southern Gaza. His family originally hails from the city of al-Majdal, now part of Ashkelon in southern Israel, from which they were forcibly displaced in 1948.
He joined the Muslim Brotherhood at a young age and studied at the Islamic University of Gaza, where he earned a bachelor's degree in Arabic. During his university years, he led the “Islamic Bloc,” the student wing of the Muslim Brotherhood.
In 1985, Sinwar founded the security apparatus for the Muslim Brotherhood, known then as “Al-Majd.” This organization focused on resisting the Israeli occupation in Gaza and combating Palestinian collaborators.
Sinwar's student activism helped him gain the experience that later enabled him to take on leadership roles in Hamas after its founding in 1987.

- Imprisonment

In 1982, the Israeli army first arrested Sinwar and released him after a few days, only to arrest him again later that year, sentencing him to six months in prison for “participating in security activities against Israel.”
On Jan. 20, 1988, Israel rearrested him and sentenced him to four life terms plus 30 years for “founding the Al-Majd security apparatus and participating in the establishment of Hamas’s first military wing, known as the Palestinian Mujahideen.”
Sinwar spent 23 years in Israeli prisons before being released as part of a prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel in 2011 known as the “Shalit Deal.”
​​​​​​​"Why haven't you liberated Palestine yet," Sinwar asked his comrades in his first statement after being released from prison. Under the deal executed on Oct. 11, 2011, Israel released 1,027 Palestinian detainees in exchange for the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit by Hamas.

-Leading Hamas in Gaza

After his release in 2011, Sinwar participated in Hamas’ internal elections in 2012, winning a seat on the political bureau and taking responsibility for supervising the group’s military wing, the Qassam Brigades.
In September 2015, the US added Sinwar to its list of “international terrorists.” Israeli security services have also listed Sinwar as a top target for assassination in Gaza, according to Israeli media.
His death comes as Israel has continued a brutal offensive on Gaza following a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7 last year, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.
More than 42,400 people have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 99,200 injured, according to local health authorities.
The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the Gaza Strip amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.
Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.