Hamas picks Oct. 7 mastermind as new leader

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.

What happened

Hamas said Tuesday it has chosen Yahya Sinwar, its Gaza chief and the likely architect of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, to lead the entire Palestinian militant organization. Previous political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Iran last week in a suspected Israeli assassination.

Who said what

The killing of Haniyeh, a relative moderate, unexpectedly "opened the path for Sinwar to claim full control of Hamas" and "appears to have tipped the group into a more hardline direction," Hugh Lovatt of the European Council on Foreign Relations said to The Associated Press.

Sinwar, the militant leader of Hamas' Gaza faction since 2017, has been "long viewed by Israeli officials as a sophisticated strategist with a keen understanding of Israeli society," The New York Times said.

What next?

Selecting Sinwar is an "indicator of the central place that Gaza occupies in the group's political vision," Al Jazeera said. Previously, much of the group's official leadership was "overseas," The Times of Israel said. It "remains unclear" how Sinwar, "in hiding and atop Israel's most-wanted list, will carry out Haniyeh's diplomatic duties," including as a chief negotiator in Gaza cease-fire talks, The Washington Post said.