Top Hamas Leader Yahya Sinwar Killed in Israeli Strike

A little more than a year after the shocking and deadly attacks by Hamas that killed more than 1,200 people in Israel and took hundreds more hostage, Israel finally tracked down and killed the man believed to be responsible for masterminding the operation.

On Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces said they killed Yahya Sinwar, the leader of the terrorist organization Hamas, as part of a routine operation they were carrying out in the southern end of the Gaza Strip.

In the days since his death has been made public, there have been many questions that have arisen about the future of Hamas and, as a result, the ongoing war in Gaza.

Many people believe that under Sinwar’s leadership, Hamas was unwilling to give much at all during negotiations of a potential ceasefire deal with Israel. He’s believed to be the person who consistently held out and refused to broker a deal between the two sides.

Israel has long demanded that any extended ceasefire would only occur once all the remaining Israeli hostages that Hamas still has be released.

Now that Sinwar has been killed, some people have expressed cautious optimism that the tides may change, and that negotiations on such a deal could soon restart.

Who ultimately ends up replacing Sinwar at the top of Hamas will likely play a big role in what deal, if any, gets struck — and when that might happen.

One person who’s believed to be up for that position is Mahmoud al-Zahar. He’s one of Hamas’ founders and a senior member of the group. The European Council on Foreign Relations said that he’s seen as “socially conservative” and “hawkish.”

While he’s a member of Hamas now, he used to work as a doctor in Gaza and established various medical charities.

Another possible successor is Mohammed Sinwar, who is Yahya’s brother. If he were to take over the group, it would likely signal that Hamas is going to go in the same direction, at least in terms of a potential ceasefire deal.

One U.S. official told CNN recently that if Mohammed were to be chosen as Hamas’ next leader, “negotiations are totally screwed.”

Another former official said he was “cut from the same cloth” as his brother is.

Mousa Abu Marzourk is another potential option. He created one of the branches of the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood, which later formed into Hamas. He’s still a member of the group’s top political bureau.

The New York Times reported recently that Israel charged him in the 1990s with helping to organize and fund different terrorist attacks in his role as the head of the political bureau of Hamas.

In the 1990s, Marzourk spent two years in a Manhattan jail. He agreed to give up his status as a permanent resident of the United States and also didn’t contest terrorism accusations against him.

He was eventually deported to Jordan by the U.S.