Yahya Sinwar

Yahya Sinwar (Yehiya Sinwar Arabic: يحيى السنوار‎‎) (born 1962) is a Palestinian military leader in the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades in Gaza, and Gaza's newly elected prime minister, taking over from Ismail Haniyeh. He was one of the co-founders of the security apparatus of Hamas.

Sinwar was born Yahya Ibrahim Hassan Sinwar in 1962, in a refugee camp in Khan Yunis, where he spent his early years. After he graduated from high school at Khan Yunis Secondary School for Boys, he went on to the Islamic University of Gaza where he received a bachelor's degree in Arabic Studies.

Sinwar was first arrested in 1982 for subversive activities and he served several months in the Far'a prison where he met other Palestinian activists, including Salah Shehade, and dedicated himself to the Palestinian cause. Arrested again in 1985, upon his release he together with Rawhi Mushtaha co-founded the Munazzamat al Jihad w’al-Dawa (Majd) security organisation, which worked to, inter alia, identify Israeli spies in the Palestinian movement, and which in 1987 became the "police" of Hamas.

In 1988, he masterminded the abduction and killing of two Israeli soldiers, was arrested, convicted of murder, and sentenced to multiple life sentences. He tried to escape several times but was always caught. Sinwar served 22 years of his sentence before being released as part of the prisoner exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

In September 2015, Sinwar was declared a "terrorist" by the United States government.

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