The Hamas terrorist organization named Yahya Sinwar, its Gaza chief and architect of the October 7 massacre, as their new leader on Tuesday.
"The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas announces the selection of Commander Yahya Sinwar as the head of the political bureau of the movement, succeeding the martyr Commander Ismail Haniyeh; may Allah have mercy on him," Hamas declared in a statement on the matter.
Sinwar replaces the Qatar-based Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in an apparent assassination last week while staying in a government guesthouse during an official visit to the Islamic Republic.
News of the announcement was reportedly celebrated by Hamas militants by firing a barrage of rockets into the Jewish state shortly after the selection was made.
The 61-year-old Khan Yunis born Islamist, spent 23 years in Israeli custody for planning the murder of two IDF soldiers and killing four suspected Palestinian informants. He is reported to have been in hiding since the start of the war in Gaza.
Israel’s chief military spokesperson, Admiral Daniel Hagari, dismissed Sinwar’s promotion, telling Saudi Arabia’s Al Arabiya on Tuesday that there “is only one place for Yahya Sinwar, and that is next to Muhammad Deif and all the terrorists who are responsible for October 7.” Deif, a former deputy and close confidant of Sinwar, was eliminated last month by the IDF.
Hagari’s sentiments were shared by the Israeli Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, who called the decision by Hamas “yet another compelling reason to swiftly eliminate him and wipe this vile organization off the face of the earth.”
Sinwar was chosen by the militant group’s Shura Council, a consultative committee comprised of representatives from Hamas factions in the diaspora, Gaza, Israeli prisons, and the West Bank.
Regional observers speculated that Sinwar would not be considered for the position due to his reputation as being an ideological extremist.
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