The Israeli military calls Yahya Sinwar, the hardline leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the “face of evil”. Senior officers say he is the top target for the tens of thousands of Israeli troops poised to invade the coastal enclave and destroy its leadership.

Long considered a brutal enforcer within Hamas and an implacable enemy of Israel, Sinwar served more than two decades in Israeli prisons before being released in a 2011 prisoner swap. He emerged as the militant group’s leader in Gaza — its top leadership resides abroad — in 2017.

“Yahya Sinwar is the face of evil,” Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht, an Israeli military spokesperson, said on Saturday after Hamas assailants killed more than 1,300 Israelis in a brutal incursion that began on October 7. “He is the mastermind behind this like bin Laden was.”

Israel has responded to the attack with punishing airstrikes and a massive military buildup before a widely anticipated invasion of Gaza.

“That man and his whole team are in our sights,” Hecht added. “We will get to that man.”

Sinwar, who is believed to be 60 or 61, grew up in southern Gaza’s main city of Khan Younis. He helped set up a precursor to Hamas’ military wing called Al Majd — Arabic for “glory” — and helped form Hamas in 1987 amid the outbreak of riots and violent protests known as the first intifada. His job was running the group’s security branch, a role that included policing “morality” and punishing Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel.

New York Times News Service