(Bloomberg) -- Hamas named Yahya Sinwar, a key mastermind of the group’s Oct. 7 assault, as its new political leader, the latest blow to multilateral efforts to reach a cease-fire agreement in Gaza.
Sinwar succeeds Ismail Haniyeh, one of the group’s main mediators, whose assassination in Iran last week had already put strain on talks — which have dragged for months — aimed at bringing the 10-month old war to an end. Iran’s said it is preparing to attack Israel as punishment for Haniyeh’s killing, which Israeli officials haven’t confirmed or denied having a role in.
Choosing Sinwar, who lives in hiding in Gaza and is the top target for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, sends a message of defiance to Israel, the US and countries in the region seeking to broker a truce. Haniyeh was central to negotiations mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the US.
Asked about Sinwar’s new role, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters “it only emphasizes the fact that — as has been the case for some time — it really is on him.”
Sinwar is “the primary decider” on a cease-fire, Blinken said. “This is the decisive moment. The negotiations have reached their final stage and we believe strongly that they should come across the finish line very, very soon.”
Israel responded sharply to Sinwar’s added title.
“There is only one reserved place for Yahya Sinwar, which is next to Mohammed Deif and Marwan Issa,” Avichay Adraee, the Arab-language spokesman for Israel’s army, said on X. They have both been killed for their involvement in the Oct. 7 attacks that ignited the war in the Gaza Strip.
Sinwar previously led Iran-backed Hamas’ political bureau in 2017, six years after he was released from an Israeli jail during a prisoner exchange deal. He later focused on reinforcing the group’s military capabilities in preparation for wider conflict with the Jewish state. Hamas is designated a terrorist organization by the US.
The surprising selection of Sinwar was a message to Israel, said Mkhaimar Abusada, a political science professor at Gaza’s Al-Azhar University.
“It’s meant to challenge Israel,” Abusada said. “Hamas is saying: ‘If you killed the somewhat moderate Haniyeh, here is more of a hardliner and extremist on top of the group.’”
Many analysts presumed Hamas would choose a figure who, like Haniyeh, was based in Qatar or somewhere else outside Gaza. Khaled Mashaal, a former Hamas chief, was one such person who was widely tipped.
The “selection reaffirms what we’ve known for months now - Sinwar controls Hamas,” said Aaron David Miller, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former US government negotiator for the Middle East. “It also lays to rest any illusions anyone might have had about its moderate or radical wings. Elevation is an endorsement of his policies.”
--With assistance from Peter Martin, Iain Marlow and Ethan Bronner.
(Updates with details on Iran vowing to attack Israel.)
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