Jerusalem, Aug 6 (EFE).- Hamas elected Yahya Sinwar as head of its political bureau in the Gaza Strip to replace Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed a week ago in Tehran in an attack blamed on Israel.
«The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas announces the selection of leader Yahya Sinwar as the head of the political bureau,» a Hamas statement said.
Sinwar, who is believed to be still hiding in Gaza tunnels, comes from the group’s harshest and most belligerent line; he is considered one of the masterminds of the Oct. 7 attacks and is Israel’s most wanted man.
He had been Hamas’ political and military leader inside Gaza, and was at the center of the group’s strategic shift from a political to a military strategy.
Sinwar was also responsible for putting the brakes on cease-fire negotiations, in which he took the harshest position within the group, in contrast to the more diplomatic Haniyeh.
Hamas’ military wing, led by Sinwar and the assasinated Mohamed Deif, commander-in-chief of the al-Qasam Brigades, the islamist group armed wing, planned the Oct. 7 attack.
The political wing, including Haniyeh, only learned of the plan once it was well underway.
For years, the head of the political bureau has resided outside the Strip. Haniyeh used to live in Qatar.
It is unclear that Sinwar will move out of Gaza, where his brother, Mohamed Sinwar, is a leading candidate to take over Deif’s post as top military chief.
Hamas announced over the weekend that it had already begun «urgent consultations» between the political bureau and the Shura Council (a secretive, mainly religious advisory body) to discuss who should succeed Haniyeh, just as it has done following the assasination of other leaders.
The selection of Sinwar, who is believed to have been hiding in the tunnels of the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the war, was unexpected.
Other candidates were considered more likely, such as Khaled Mashaal, a founding member of the political bureau and its head from 2004 to 2017, or Khalil al Hayya, a powerful figure within the group and close to the assassinated leader.
In the past, Israel has assassinated several key Hamas leaders: the group’s founder, Sheikh Ahmed Yasin, in March 2004, and his successor, Abdelaziz Rantisi, less than a month later; as well as two other heads of the armed wing, Salah Shehade (2002) or Ahmed Yabari (2012).
«The assassination of the fighter brother Ismail Haniyeh will only increase Hamas and the Palestinian resistance in strength and determination to continue his path and approach. His pure and noble blood will ignite the fire of resistance and intensify and escalate it,» Hamas asserted.
In addition to Haniyeh, since the start of the Gaza war, Israel has eliminated Saleh al Arouri, the second-in-command of the political bureau in a January bombing in Beirut, as well as the military chiefs of the al-Qassam Brigades: its supreme commander, Mohamed Deif, and his deputy, Marwan Issa. EFE
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