BASSEM MROUE
Hamas on Tuesday named Yahya Sinwar, its top official in Gaza who masterminded the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, as its new leader in a dramatic sign of the power of the Palestinian militant group’s hardline wing after his predecessor was killed in a presumed Israeli strike in Iran.
The selection of Sinwar, a secretive figure close to Iran who worked for years to build up Hamas’ military strength, was a defiant signal that the group is prepared to keep fighting after 10 months of destruction from Israel’s campaign in Gaza and after the assassination of Sinwar’s predecessor, Ismail Haniyeh.
It is also likely to provoke Israel, which has put him at the top of its kill list after the Oct. 7 attack, in which militants killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and took about 250 as hostages.
The announcement comes at volatile moment. Fears are high
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