Hamas picks Oct. 7 mastermind as new leader

Hamas' former leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Iran last week in a suspected Israeli assassination

(Image credit: Laurent Van der Stockt / Getty Images)

published 7 August 2024

What happened

Hamas said Tuesday it has chosen Yahya Sinwar, its Gaza chief and the likely architect of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, to lead the entire Palestinian militant organization. Previous political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Iran last week in a suspected Israeli assassination.

The killing of Haniyeh, a relative moderate, unexpectedly "opened the path for Sinwar to claim full control of Hamas" and "appears to have tipped the group into a more hardline direction," Hugh Lovatt of the European Council on Foreign Relations said to The Associated Press.

Sinwar, the militant leader of Hamas' Gaza faction since 2017, has been "long viewed by Israeli officials as a sophisticated strategist with a keen understanding of Israeli society," The New York Times said.

Selecting Sinwar is an "indicator of the central place that Gaza occupies in the group's political vision," Al Jazeera said. Previously, much of the group's official leadership was "overseas," The Times of Israel said. It "remains unclear" how Sinwar, "in hiding and atop Israel's most-wanted list, will carry out Haniyeh's diplomatic duties," including as a chief negotiator in Gaza cease-fire talks, The Washington Post said.

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Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.