Hamas Appoints Yahya Sinwar Replace Ismail Haniyeh, Israeli Military: The Place Is Next To Defif

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar (Source: IRNA)

JAKARTA - Palestinian militant group Hamas appointed Yahya Sinwar as Head of the Political Bureau replacing the late Ismail Haniyeh who died in Tehran, Iran last week.

"The Hamas Islamic Resistance Movement announced the election of Commander Yahya Sinwar as head of the movement's political bureau, replacing the deceased Commander Ismail Haniyeh, may Allah forgive him," the movement said in a brief statement.

News of the appointment, which comes as Israel prepares for a possible attack from Iran following the killing of Haniyeh in Tehran, was met with rocket salvo from Gaza by militant groups still battling Israeli forces in the trapped enclave.

"The designation means Israel needs to confront Sinwar to find a solution to the Gaza war," said a regional diplomat familiar with talks brokered by Egypt and Qatar, aimed at halting fighting in Gaza and repatriating 115 Israeli and foreign hostages who are still detained in the enclave.

"It's a message of toughness and no compromise," he continued.

Sinwar, who spent half of his adult life in Israeli prisons, is the ruling Hamas leader who is still alive after Haniyeh's assassination, which has left the region on the verge of a wider regional conflict after Iran vowed to take harsh retaliation.

Haniyeh was killed in an attack on where he stayed in Tehran last week after participating in the inauguration of the elected president Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday afternoon last week.

Israel has yet to claim responsibility for the killing but says it has killed other senior leaders, including deputy leaders of Hamas Saleh al-Arouri, who were killed in Beirut and Mohammed Def, the movement's military commander.

Separately, Israeli spokesman Defense Forces (IDF) Rear Admiral Daniel Yahwi blamed Sinwar for the October 7 attack, saying Israel would continue to pursue him.

"There is only one place for Yahya Sinwar, and that's next to Mohammed Def and the other October 7 terrorists," he told Al-Arabiya television, according to a statement released by the military.

"That's the only place we prepared and meant for him."

Born in a refugee camp in Khan Younis City in southern Gaza, Sinwar, 61, was elected Hamas leader in Gaza in 2017 after gaining reputation as a cruel law enforcer among Palestinians and arch-enemy Israel.