Yahya Sinwar (Chairman)
Yahya Sinwar (يحيى السنوار), born in 1962 in Gaza, is the chairman of Hamas’s Politburo. He is considered to be one of the main figures connecting Hamas’s political and armed wings, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, and an architect of the Hamas-led attacks against Israel on 7 October 2023.
Sinwar reportedly helped establish Hamas’s internal security force (“al-Majd”) in 1988. As a long time Hamas activist, he has been arrested by Israel on a number of occasions, spending a total of 24 years in prison. He was among the Palestinian prisoners released in exchange for Hamas’s freeing of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011. In September 2015 Sinwar was listed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) by the US Department of State.
He joined Hamas’s Politburo in 2017 and was initially the group’s leader in Gaza. In August 2024, he was elected as Hamas’s overall leader, succeeding Ismail Haniyeh who was assassinated by Israel while visiting Tehran.