Hamas confirms killing of Yahya Sinwar by Israel forces in Gaza

CAIRO – 18 October 2024: Khalil al-Hayya, a Hamas leader, officially announced the assassination of the movement's leader Yahya Sinwar during clashes with Israeli occupation forces in the Gaza Strip.

In a televised speech on Friday, al-Hayya said, 'with all meanings of pride, dignity, and honor, Hamas mourns to our Palestinian people, to our Arab and Islamic nation, and to the free people of the world, a man among the noblest and bravest of men—a man who devoted his life to Palestine and gave his soul in the way of God to liberate it'. God spoke the truth, and He rewarded him by choosing him as a martyr, just as He did for his brothers in faith who came before him, al-Hayya said.

'We mourn the great national leader, The martyr and resistance fighter, Yahya Sinwar (Abu Ibrahim), Head of the Political Bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Commander of the Al-Aqsa Flood Battle', al-Hayya said.

'He ascended as a hero and a martyr, advancing without hesitation, weapon in hand, engaging and confronting the occupation forces at the forefront of the battle lines. He moved between all the combat sites, steadfast and resolute on the land of Gaza, defending Palestine and its sanctities, inspiring a spirit of steadfastness, patience, and resistance', al-Hayya said.

'To our great people, to our Arab and Islamic nation, and to the free people of the world', al-Hayya said.

On August 6, 2024, Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind behind the 7th of October incidents last year, was chosen by the movement to be the head of the movement’s political bureau, succeeding Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated by an Israeli raid on his residence in the Iranian capital Tehran.

Sinwar was born on October 19, 1962, in the Khan Yunis refugee camp after Israelis displaced his family from the city of Majdal Asqalan in 1948.

He was one of the key leaders in Hamas and was close to the late Hamas Leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who had tasked him with establishing the Jihad and Da'wa Organization (Majd).

In 1982, Sinwar was arrested for six months in Far'a prison due to his resistance activities. Six years later in 1988, Israel re-arrested him and handed down him four life sentences. He was kept in Israeli prisons for 23, including four years in solitary confinement. During his imprisonment, Sinwar and other Palestinian detainees led a series of hunger strikes, the most prominent of which had taken place in 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004.

He obtained a bachelor's degree in Arabic language at the Islamic University of Gaza and obtained.  Additionally, he was fluent in Hebrew and had many political and security publications and translations.

After he was released from an Israeli prison in the 2011 Gilaat Shalit prisoner swap deal, Sinwar married in 2012 and had three children, two boys and a girl (Ibrahim, Abdullah, and Reda).