Hamas hardliner elected group’s Gaza chief
HAMAS elected in secret a hardline member of the Palestinian Islamist movement’s armed wing as its new Gaza leader on Monday, indicating a tougher stand against longtime adversary Israel.
Yahya Sinwar was elected to head the Hamas political office in the Gaza Strip, officials from the party said on condition of anonymity.
An influential military figure, Sinwar represents for some the hardest line within the Islamist movement which has fought three wars against Israel since 2008. He will succeed politician Ismail Haniya and becomes the second most important figure in the party after Khaled Meshaal.
Sinwar was held in Israeli jail for more than 20 years until 2011, when he was released along with more than 1,000 other Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured five years earlier. He has since become a senior figure in the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing.
In September 2015, Sinwar’s name was added to the US terrorism blacklist alongside two other al-Qassam members.
Mukhaimer Abu Saada, a political analyst in Gaza, said the appointment showed the military wing was asserting its dominance in Hamas.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry and prime minister’s office declined to comment, but the defence ministry body responsible for the Palestinian territories labelled him the head of Hamas’s “radical camp”.
Washington accuses Sinwar of pushing for kidnapping more Israeli soldiers as a bargaining chip for Palestinian prisoners. Hamas currently claims to be holding four Israelis in captivity in Gaza, though Israel says the two soldiers among them were killed in the 2014 war.
Both Palestinian and Israeli analysts said the appointment could make another conflict between the sides more likely.
“I think it is an indication that we might see an escalation with the Israeli occupation in the coming stage,” said Abu Saada, the Gaza analyst. “Sinwar is known to not accept any facilitation that eases the tense situation with the occupation.”
“We might see in the coming stage further provocations against Israel and violent responses against Gaza.”
Israel last year appointed hardline rightwinger Avigdor Lieberman as its defence minister. After his appointment, he warned the next war with Gaza would be the last as “we will completely destroy them”.