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Yahya Sinwar | |
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يَحْيَى السَّنْوَارُ | |
Sinwar in 2011 | |
Chief in Gaza[1] | |
Assumed office 13 February 2017 | |
Prime Minister | |
Preceded by | Ismail Haniyeh |
Chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau | |
Assumed office 6 August 2024 | |
Deputy | Khalil al-Hayya |
Preceded by | Ismail Haniyeh |
Personal details | |
Born | Khan Younis, Egyptian-governed Gaza | 29 October 1962
Political party | Hamas |
Residence | Khan Younis, Khan Younis Governorate, Palestine[2] |
Education | Islamic University of Gaza |
Yahya Sinwar (Arabic: يَحْيَى السَّنْوَارُ) is a Palestinian politician who is the leader of Hamas in Gaza.[3][4]
He was born in the Khan Yunis refugee camp in Egyptian-governed Gaza in 1962. His family were forcibly expelled from the city of Ashkelon by Jewish terrorists during the 1948 War.[5] He completed his studies at the Islamic University of Gaza and received a degree in Arabic Studies.[6]
For planning the capture and liquidation of two Israeli soldiers and four Palestinians accused of collaboration in 1989, he was sentenced to four life sentences by the Israeli Regime, of which he served 22 years until his release among 1,026 others in a 2011 prisoner exchange. In 2017, he was elected as the leader of Hamas, and stated to pursue "peaceful, popular resistance" to the violent Israeli occupation the following year. He was re-elected as the leader of Hamas in 2021, and was subject to a failed assassination attempt by Israel that year.