The killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in the Gaza Strip has left the Palestinian terror group in need of a new chief, with multiple media reports on Friday speculating on who could fill the gap.
According to The Associated Press, Israeli leaders celebrated the killing of Yahya Sinwar as a key victory, with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu marking it as a “settling of scores” just over a year after Hamas militants carried out their devastating attack, killing around 1,200 people and kidnapping 250 in Israel.
According to multiple reports from both Israel and the Arabic-language media, a Hamas source has informed the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper on Friday that discussion are already underway to select a new leader and that Sinwar’s death would have a great influence on the Gaza-ruling terror group, which now faces “a new stage” according to the reports.
Khaled Mashaal
One potential leader for the group is former Hamas political bureau leader Khaled Mashaal, 68, who currently lives in Qatar according to the BBC and became the political leader of Hamas in exile in 1996. He was first widely reported on across the world in 1997 after Israeli agents injected him with poison in a botched assassination attempt on a street outside his office in the Jordanian capital Amman.
According to a Reuters report this year, Mashaal’s role allowed him to represent the Palestinian Islamist group at international meetings, free from the Israeli travel restrictions that limited other Hamas officials’ movements, which has given him a significant advantage over rival Hamas leaders based in Gaza or the West Bank, according to the report.
Muhammad Sinwar
The Israel-based Jerusalem Post have reported on sources citing Muhammad Sinwar, the younger brother of slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, as a possible successor. The report states Muhammad is a senior commander in Hamas’ military wing who has been involved in terror activities against Israel for decades. He was widely reported to have been imprisoned by Israel in the 1990s and later escaped from a Palestinian Authority prison in 2000. His long-standing involvement in Hamas and leadership role make him a key figure to watch as the group considers its next steps, the Jerusalem Post reports.
Khalil al-Hayya
According to his profile published by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), deputy head of Hamas’ regional Politburo Khalil al-Hayya was born in 1960 in Gaza. The profile states he has served in his present role in Gaza since 2017, playing a significant role in heading the group’s ‘Jerusalem Is Our Promise’ electoral list for the legislative elections scheduled for May 2021.
The ECFR reports on how a number of his family members have been killed by Israel including “his wife and three children during an assassination attempt against him in 2007.”
Al-Hayya has been a key political figure within Hamas and has held important positions within the organization’s leadership structure for years, states his ECFR profile.
How Sinwar Was Killed
The Israeli government has hailed the killing of Sinwar as a potential turning point in their campaign to dismantle Hamas, calling on the group to surrender and urging them to release the roughly 100 hostages still held in Gaza. “Hamas will no longer rule Gaza. This is the start of the day after Hamas,” Netanyahu said.
U.S. officials expressed hopes for a ceasefire, with Sinwar no longer at the head of the Iranian-backed Hamas militant group. President Joe Biden said Sinwar’s death opens the way for “a political settlement that provides a better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike.” He said he would talk with Netanyahu “to discuss the pathway for bringing the hostages home to their families, and for ending this war once and for all.”
Since the Oct. 7 massacre of Israelis, Israel has launched a military operation in Gaza that the territory’s Health Ministry says has killed 42,000 people in the past year. Since Oct. 1 this year Israel has also conducted a ground operation in Lebanon, with airstrikes in the south of the country and its capital Beirut. The Lebanese Health Ministry has said 2,400 people have been killed in this time in Lebanon and more than one million people have been displaced according to the Red Cross.
Iran: ‘Spirit of Resistance Will Be Strengthened’
The Iran Mission to the United Nations has responded to the killing of Iran-backed Hamas commander and mastermind of Israel’s Oct. 7 massacre, Yahya Sinwar, by defiantly declaring “the spirit of resistance with be strengthened” in a post from its X account.
According to the Israeli military, on Thursday Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops spotted Hamas fighters in a building in Rafah, Gaza, and fire was exchanged before an order was made for an IDF tank to strike the building. Drone footage released shortly after the incident shows an injured man, who was later confirmed by police through DNA evidence to be Yahya Sinwar, sitting in a chair in a heavily damaged ground floor room.
The drone video shows the Hamas commander’s final gesture was to throw a sticklike object toward the drone. He was then shot dead and his body was removed in a stretcher.
Regarding the momentous killing for Israel, the Iran Mission to the U.N.’s post continued “when Muslims look up to Martyr Sinwar standing on the battlefield—in combat attire and out in the open, not in a hideout, facing the enemy—the spirit of resistance will be strengthened” it said.
Israeli Military To Move a Fresh Brigade Into Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has said it will move an additional brigade into southern Lebanon from its official X account “In accordance with the assessment of the situation, it was decided to recruit an additional reserve brigade for the operational tasks in the northern sector” said the IDF post.
The IDF post continued “Its mobilization will allow the continuation of the fighting effort against the terrorist organization Hezbollah and the achievement of the goals of the war, including the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes.”
Source » newsweek