Israel vows to kill Yahya Sinwar as he’s named Hamas leader as US warns against escalation

Israeli military spokesperson says ‘there is only one place’ for new Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar

By Andy Gregory,Alisha Rahaman Sarkar,Mike Bedigan

Israel has vowed to kill Yahya Sinwar after he was announced the new leader of Hamas, as the United States and its allies urge restraint against further escalation in the Middle East.

Sinwar, the architect of the 7 October attacks which sparked the war in Gaza was named the new leader of the Palestinian militant group, after his predecessor was killed in a presumed Israeli strike in Iran last week, with Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr also assassinated in Beirut.

With both Tehran and Hezbollah vowing retaliation, world leaders are urging restraint in a bid to avert an all-out regional war. US President Joe Biden discussed such efforts with the leaders of both Egypt and Qatar on Tuesday, including through an immediate ceasefire and hostage release deal.

As Israeli warplanes broke the sound barrier above Beirut again on Tuesday in an apparent show of force as Hezbollah leaders spoke in the Lebanese capital, Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari vowed “there is only one place for Yahya Sinwar”, pointing to other Hamas figures already killed by Israel.

Who is new Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar?

Yahya Sinwar, the newly appointed leader of Hamas, is viewed as a hardliner with closer ties to the group’s armed wing than his predecessor, Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in an explosion in Tehran last month.

Sinwar spent more than two decades in Israeli prisons, and told interrogators he had killed 12 suspected Palestinian collaborators, gaining a reputation for brutality among people on both sides of the conflict.

He and Mohammed Deif, the shadowy head of Hamas’s armed wing – who is claimed to have been killed in a recent Israeli strike – spent years building up the group’s military strength and are believed to have devised the 7 October attack, in which militants killed some 1,200 people in Israel and took a further 250 hostage.

He was already seen as having the final word on any ceasefire agreement for Gaza and the release of dozens of Israeli hostages still held by Hamas. As the war rages, Sinwar has stuck to demands for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and a lasting ceasefire.

But he is deep in hiding inside Gaza and has not been seen since the start of the war, prior to which he made only rare public appearances. Mediators say it takes several days to exchange messages with him – raising questions about how he would manage the sprawling organisation.

While he can be expected to set overall policy and make the final decision on any ceasefire deal, Hamas’s day-to-day operations occupied West Bank and elsewhere are likely to be managed by its exiled leaders in Qatar, Lebanon, Turkey and Iran, experts believe.