Yahya Sinuar, who he is presumed deadspent more years as a Hamas member in prison than outside. From there he organized attacks and death contracts. Except he was even deadlier. His release, in the context of a prisoner exchange, was described as “Israel’s biggest mistake”.
Unlike its predecessor, Ismail Haniyathe leader of Hamas, never left Gaza, did not enjoy luxuries in Qatar, Turkey and elsewhere, giving orders for the “fight” from the comfort and safety of his residence there. This earned him the respect of the terrorist organization’s lower-level executives. He was, however, one of their toughest leaders, following truly horrific methods against Palestinians he suspected of treason.
Childhood and entry into jihad
THE Yahya Sinuar was born in 1962 in the Han Younis refugee camp, in southern Gaza. His family was forcibly displaced from southern Israel.
He joined the Muslim Brotherhood at a young age and studied at the Islamic University of Gaza, where he majored in Arabic. During his university years, he led the “Islamic Bloc”, the student wing of the organization.
In 1985 he founded the Muslim Brotherhood’s security apparatus, then known as “Al-Majd”. This organization focused on resistance to the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the fight against Palestinian collaborators.
He was closely mentored by Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who was freed in 1985 in the exchange of more than 1,000 prisoners for three Israeli soldiers. Sinwar worked with him to hunt down Palestinian informants suspected of working with Israel, according to Israeli officials. The internal security police he created was the precursor to Hamas’ military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.
He himself, in his interrogations by the Israelis, described two shocking cases. He arrested a young Palestinian, Ramsey, suspected of providing information to the Israelis. He blindfolded him, took him to an area with a freshly dug grave and strangled him with a black and white keffiyeh, the headscarf – a symbol of the Palestinian struggle.
“After strangling him, I wrapped him in a white shroud and closed the grave,” Sinouar said in his confession. “I was sure Ramsay knew he deserved to die.”
In another incident, Sinuar said he believed the brother of a Hamas official was working with Israelis. He asked the Hamas official to invite his brother to a meeting. There they placed him in a tomb and buried him alive.
The prison action
Sinwar was involved in the kidnapping and murder of two Israeli soldiers and the deaths of four Palestinians, according to the Israeli military. He was sentenced to multiple life sentences and approved 22 years in prison. Hamas was in its infancy when Sinwar was arrested.
The year he was arrested, Hamas issued a statement of principles that included the aim of destroying Israel. He was an influential member even in prison. The prisoners are one of Hamas’ four power bases, along with members in the West Bank, Gaza and the diaspora outside the Palestinian territories, according to Israeli officials and independent researchers who spoke to the Wall Street Journal.
Hamas members establish hierarchies within prisons similar to their external structures and choose a leader in each prison and a top figure in all Israeli prisons, former Israeli prison officials said.
Sinuar was twice elected leader of the entire prison system. Even when he was not a leader, he had great influence over leaders.
In 2000, Palestinians rose up against Israel in the West Bank and Gaza after the failure of peace negotiations to establish a Palestinian state. Hamas became involved in the uprising, known as the second Intifada, carrying out attacks and some of the most high-profile suicide bombings. Sinwar’s role in the violence of the second intifada, if any, is unclear.
The operation that saved his life
In 2004, he appeared to develop neurological problems. Doctors examined him and found a life-threatening brain abscess. After a successful operation, Sinuar returned to prison and thanked doctors for saving his life, former Israeli prison officials told the WSJ.
Sinwar gave Israeli authorities the impression that he wanted the violence to end – at least in the short term. At the end of the 2005 Palestinian uprising, Sinwar gave an interview to an Israeli journalist inside prison. He said Hamas would be open to a long-term ceasefire with the Israelis but would never accept Israel as a state. He then said he understood that Hamas could never defeat Israel militarily.
In prison, Sinuar and his fellow prisoners spent most of their lives in cells of three to eight people, going out for two sessions a day in the courtyard to walk for about an hour and a half. They taught each other English and Hebrew and read history and the Quran.
The launch
Convinced that he had “changed,” during negotiations between Israel and Hamas over prisoner exchanges, he was also on the list.
Sinwar was so maximalist in his demands that Israel placed him in solitary confinement to limit his influence over Hamas. Israel ended up releasing some Palestinians who committed murders and were considered dangerous, including Sinwar himself. “Releasing him was the worst mistake in Israel’s history,” an Israeli official who interrogated him while in prison told the WSJ.
A week after his release in 2011, Sinwar told Safa Press, a Palestinian news agency, that the best option for freeing the remaining prisoners was to kidnap more Israeli soldiers.
Taking on a leadership role
Sinwar participated in Hamas’ 2012 internal elections, winning a position in the political cabinet and assuming responsibility for overseeing the group’s military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades.
In September 2015, the US added Sinuar to its list of “international terrorists”.
In a 2021 interview with Vice News, he said that while Palestinians do not seek war, they will not “wave a white flag.”
“For long periods, we tried peaceful and popular resistance. We expected free people and international organizations to support our people and stop the occupying forces from committing crimes and massacring our people. Unfortunately, people stood by and watched,” he said.
Asked about Hamas’ tactics, including the indiscriminate firing of rockets that could harm civilians, he said the Palestinians were fighting with the means at their disposal. He accused Israel of mass attacking Palestinian civilians despite possessing advanced and accurate weapons.
“Does the world expect us to be good victims while they kill us, so they can slaughter us without making a sound?” he had said.