Who's Yahya Sinwar and why has Israel vowed to kill him?

When one of the senior Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) officials was quoted in media reports as saying that the IDF intended to kill Yahya Sinwar, the spotlight from Mohammed Deif has now shifted to the “new face of evil” to quote former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid.

Declared as a “dead man walking” by Israelis, the Hamas leader is alleged to have masterminded and coordinated the multi-pronged attack – missile rockets, drones and ground assault – on Israel on October 7 from Gaza, killing more than 1200 Israelis and taking hostage scores of civilians and IDF personnel. “Yahya Sinwar is a direct enemy of the State of Israel and his genocidal terrorist organization—Hamas—is a threat to the entire world,” IDF declared on X, after the attack, and singled him out as their prime target.

Sinwar is No. 2 in the Hamas leadership after Ismail Haniyeh, head of the organisation’s political bureau. With Haniyeh living in voluntary exile, Sinwar is the de facto ruler of Gaza. He has consistently advocated armed struggle against Israel and has been against any compromise formula. He is known for his fiery speeches, and reports say he commands the absolute loyalty of the Hamas ranks. Sinwar is also known to take no chances when it comes to keeping Hamas operatives under watch.

Though much is not known about his early life, Yahya Sinwar was born in 1962 as Yahya Ibrahim Hassan Sinwar in Khan Younis, a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Gaza when it was under Egyptian rule. His family hails from Ashkelon, which moved to the Gaza Strip in 1948, the year a separate state of Israel was carved out of Palestine for Jews. Here he joined the Islamic University of Gaza to graduate in Arabic studies.

First brush with Israeli forces

According to media reports, he had his first brush with Israeli forces in 1982 when he was arrested by the IDF for subversive activities. While incarcerated, Sinwar came in contact with Palestinian activists and was drawn to the cause. After his second release in 1985, he went to form the Munazzamat al-Jihad w’al-Dawa, a security organisation tasked with identifying and persecuting Israeli spies in the Palestinian movement.

He was arrested by the IDF again in 1988 for kidnapping killing two Israeli soldiers and four Palestinian collaborators and was sentenced to life. However, Sinwar was released after 22 years in 2011 in a prisoner swap, along with more than 1,000 other Palestinians, in exchange for the release of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit who had been kept in captivity by Hamas for five years.

Rise as the ruler of Gaza

In the years following his release from prison, Sinwar saw a steady rise in Hamas ranks after he joined Salah Shehade, the head of its military wing. The US State Department designated him a terrorist in 2015 “for his role in founding the forerunner of the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas”. Known for his fiery speeches, Sinwar enjoys absolute loyalty among Hamas rank and file.

After Sinwar was elected as head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip in 2017, he became the de facto ruler of the occupied territory as Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas political bureau, is living in voluntary exile in Qatar.

Although seen as a “hard-line leader”, Sinwar sought Egyptian mediation during border conflicts in 2018 and 2019 with Israel.

“That man is in our sights. He's a dead man walking, and we will get to that man,” The New York Times quoted Lt Col Richard Hecht as saying.

The IDF on Thursday (October 12) claimed to have destroyed five residential buildings in Gaza including the one that housed the brother of Sinwar. The claim has not been verified by independent sources keeping a close watch on the unfolding Israel–Hamas conflict.