This man is number 1 on Israel’s death list: ‘slaughterer of Khan Yunis’ Yahya Sinwar | Israel-Palestine conflict

Long before the horrific events of nine days ago, Yahya Sinwar was already seen by Israeli security services as one of Hamas’ most ruthless militants.

Sinwar, who was born in the Khan Yunis refugee camp in Gaza, set up a prototype of the terror organization’s military wing even before the official founding of Hamas in 1987. He would later also start Hamas’s security service. His duties included punishing “morality offenders” and killing Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel. The “enthusiasm” with which he carried out executions led to him being nicknamed “the slaughterer of Khan Yunis”.

In early 1988, Sinwar was arrested by Israeli authorities and sentenced to four life terms for kidnapping and murdering two Israeli soldiers. But even bars couldn’t stop his star from rising. He was considered “Prisoner Number 1” and learned Hebrew, the language of his enemy.

“They wanted the prison to be a grave for us. A mill that would destroy our will, determination and bodies,” he said later. “But our faith in our cause has turned prisons into sanctuaries of prayer and academies of study.”

He was released in 2011 as part of a prisoner exchange that he helped negotiate. Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was exchanged for no fewer than 1,027 Palestinian prisoners.

He then consolidated his power and his ruthless reputation. For example, he is believed to have been behind the capture and torture of a Hamas commander suspected of fraud and “moral crimes” (there were rumors that he was gay). Sinwar had him killed because he feared the man could be extorted and compromise Hamas.

In 2017, he was elected leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Among other things, he tried to improve relations with Egypt and to push Israel through diplomacy to lift the military blockade of Gaza. He told The New York Times in 2018 that the Palestinians would prefer to obtain their rights “through gentle and peaceful means”, but that they also had the right to do so “roughly”.

He did not make much progress with that strategy and, partly due to pressure from some hardliners within Hamas, he again took the path of “hard confrontation”. The massacre of October 7 was a culmination of this.

Israel has now vowed to eliminate the entire leadership of Hamas in Gaza. It seems immaterial that it could cause a humanitarian disaster in the densely populated area where millions of innocent Palestinians live. At the very top of the death list is Sinwar.

“He chose to send butchers into our bedrooms to kill our babies,” Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli army spokesman, told NBC News. “By attacking Israel head-on, they signed their own death warrant. He is a dead man walking.”

The hunt for Sinwar is therefore on. It is not clear where he is now. Israel believes he is hiding in a labyrinth of tunnels under Gaza, used by Hamas members to hide militants, weapons and hostages.

His brother is said to have died last week. The Israeli army said on Thursday that Hamed Sinwar had been killed in an airstrike on Hamas buildings in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip.

Read more about the conflict between Israel and Hamas in our special file.