MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Hamas has named a new leader. He is the group's top military commander in Gaza, and the man widely known as the architect of the October 7 attacks. Yahya Sinwar's appointment comes at a time when fears of a regional war are palpable. NPR's Hadeel al-Shalchi brings us this report from Tel Aviv.
HADEEL AL-SHALCHI, BYLINE: Picked within days of assassination of Hamas' top political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in a presumed Israeli airstrike in Tehran, Yahya Sinwar's appointment sent a shock through the region yesterday. Ibrahim Dalalsha is the founder of the Ramallah-based political studies center, Horizons. He says the appointment was all about messaging.
IBRAHIM DALALSHA: A message of defiance and resilience.
AL-SHALCHI: Sinwar is one of Hamas' most feared figures, known even among Palestinians as the Butcher of Khan Yunis, the town in southern Gaza where he was born in 1962. He's presumed to be operating in Gaza's vast network of tunnels since the beginning of the war triggered by the Hamas attack on Israel in October. The displacement of his family in 1948 when the state of Israel was established deeply affected him, inspiring him to join Hamas. Sinwar was imprisoned in Israel for four life sentences, accused of killing Israeli soldiers and Palestinian collaborators with Israel. Dalalsha says Sinwar's almost 20 years in Israeli prison hardened him.
DALALSHA: Paramilitary mindset, very few political skills and a hard-liner.
AL-SHALCHI: In jail, Sinwar became fluent in Hebrew and translated books into Arabic written by Israeli security officials. He even wrote a novel called the "Thorn And The Carnation" about a boy from Gaza who has to sacrifice for the sake of resistance. Palestinian author Esmat Mansour served in jail with Sinwar for many years.
ESMAT MANSOUR: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: "He was a tough man. He wasn't an easy man socially, and it wasn't easy to make friends with him," Mansour says.
MANSOUR: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: "He's an ideologue," Mansour says. "He has the Quran memorized and would lead men in prayer." Sinwar helped found Hamas' security apparatus and is credited with building up its military. In an interview with VICE in 2021, Sinwar laid out clearly his attitude towards Israel.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
YAHYA SINWAR: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: "The struggle between us and the occupation is an open-ended war," Sinwar said. Dalalsha said choosing Sinwar is a temporary wartime decision. He says Hamas is an institution. How can Sinwar lead from a tunnel?
DALALSHA: He's not going to be able to manage overall Hamas' businesses with external relations, talking to people, meeting with foreign officials, Iranians and others.
AL-SHALCHI: But the big question that looms over the conflict today is - how does the appointment of Sinwar impact the stalled cease-fire talks? Dalalsha says not much. After all, Sinwar has been calling the shots the entire time, but the talks may shift.
DALALSHA: More blunt, firmer, to break the conception that killing of Haniyeh or assassination has actually made the difference.
AL-SHALCHI: Israeli journalist Avi Issacharoff says there was always divisions within Hamas, but the appointment of Sinwar has moved it into a new phase.
AVI ISSACHAROFF: There was always some kind of an argument between the more pragmatists and the more radicals. And it seems like there's a verdict. It's a very much Yahya Sinwar's movement.
AL-SHALCHI: Dalalsha says that Sinwar's appointment is also a reminder that killing Hamas' leaders does not stop the group.
DALALSHA: It stands more for an idea - an organization that have rotated their leaders over the past 35 years.
AL-SHALCHI: Hamas' new leader has been called a dead man walking and a brutal killer. Issacharoff says he is now also a popular symbol of resistance for some Palestinians.
ISSACHAROFF: He's a rock star. In the eyes of Hamas, in the eyes of radical Islamists, he's a rock star.
AL-SHALCHI: It's hard to know how popular Sinwar will be if the war in Gaza drags on. But for now, he's the face of Hamas. Hadeel al-Shalchi, NPR News, Tel Aviv.
(SOUNDBITE OF RHIANNON GIDDENS' "MOUNTAIN BANJO") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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