BRIGADE Al-Qassam, the military wing of Hamas, swore allegiance to Yahya Sinwar, who was elected as the new head of the group’s political bureau, replacing Ismail Haniyeh.
“Al-Qassam Brigades swore allegiance to leader Yahya Sinwar and affirmed their full readiness to implement his decisions,” Abu Ubaida, the brigades’ military spokesman, said in a statement.
Al-Qassam Brigades sees the election of Sinwar as the leader of Hamas, replacing Haniyeh, as proof of the movement’s vitality and strength.
Hamas chose Sinwar, 61, on Tuesday to replace Haniyeh, who was killed in the Iranian capital, Tehran, on July 31 in an attack allegedly carried out by Israel.
Before being selected to lead the Palestinian resistance group’s political bureau, Sinwar was elected head of the movement in the Gaza Strip in 2017 and re-elected in 2021.
Israel considers Sinwar to be the architect of the cross-border Al-Aqsa Flood operation on October 7. It caused significant human and military losses for Israel and damaged the reputation of Israel’s intelligence and security services worldwide.
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Israel has stated that eliminating Sinwar is one of the main goals of its current war on Gaza. Concerns rose about the possibility of a full-scale regional war following Haniyeh’s killing, in addition to Hezbollah’s top military leader, Fuad Shukr, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in
Beirut on July 30.
Israel, which has ignored a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, has faced international condemnation amid a brutal assault on Gaza since October. Nearly 40,000 Palestinians have been killed since then, mostly women and children, and more than 91,700 injured, according to local health authorities.
More than 10 months into Israel’s war, much of Gaza lies in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine. Israel has been accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which has ordered it to immediately halt military operations in the city.
South of Rafah. More than 1 million Palestinians sought refuge from the war before the city was stormed on May 6. (Z-2)
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