"Butcher of Khan Younis", sentenced to 4 life imprisonment / Who is Yahya Sinuar, who is thought to have been killed today by Israel?

Israel says it is looking into the possibility that Hamas leader Yahya Sinuar, a mastermind of the October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the Gaza war, was killed in a military operation.

His death, which has not yet been confirmed, would be a major milestone in Israel's year-long offensive against the militant group and could complicate efforts to free dozens of hostages held in Gaza.

Sinuar became the head of Hamas after the previous leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in an explosion in Iran in July that was widely blamed on Israel.

Some things you should know about Yahya Sinuar:

Sinuar was born in 1962 in a refugee camp in the Gaza city of Khan Younis. He was an early member of Hamas, which was formed in 1987. He eventually headed the group's security wing, which worked to purge it of Israeli informants.

Israel arrested him in the late 1980s and he admitted to killing 12 suspected accomplices, a role that earned him the nickname "The Butcher of Khan Younis". He was sentenced to four life terms for crimes that included the killing of two Israeli soldiers.

Sinuar organized prison strikes to improve working conditions. He also studied Jewish and Israeli society.

He survived brain cancer in 2008 after being treated by Israeli doctors.

Sinuar was among more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners released in 2011 by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as part of an exchange for an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas in a cross-border raid.

When Sinuar returned to Gaza, he quickly rose through the ranks of the Hamas leadership with a ruthless reputation. He is widely believed to be behind the 2016 assassination of another senior Hamas commander, Mahmoud Ishteui, in an internal power struggle.

Sinuar became the head of Hamas in Gaza, effectively putting it in control of the territory, and worked with Haniyeh to connect the group with Iran and its proxies around the region, while also building the group's military capabilities.

Sinuar, along with Mohammed Deif, the head of Hamas' armed wing, is believed to have masterminded the October 7 surprise attack on Israel. The attack killed about 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, and sparked a war that has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to health authorities there.

Hamas said it launched the attack in retaliation for Israel's treatment of Palestinians and to push the Palestinian cause back onto the world agenda. The International Criminal Court prosecutor sought arrest warrants in May for Sinuar, Deif and Haniyeh for their alleged roles in the attack.

Israel said it killed Deif in an attack in July, while Hamas says he is still alive. Sinuar has been in hiding since the attack, and truce negotiators have said it could take days to send and receive messages from him.

Even before becoming Hamas's top leader, Sinuar was believed to have the final say on any deal to release hostages held by the militant group. About 100 hostages remain in Gaza, about a third of whom are believed to be dead.

It is unclear who would replace Sinuar and what that might mean for ceasefire efforts, which broke down in August after months of negotiations brokered by the United States, Egypt and Qatar.

Hamas has hundreds of thousands of supporters in Gaza, the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Palestinian refugee camps across the region. Some of its top leaders are based in Qatar, which has served as a mediator between Israel and the militant group.

Israel has arrested and killed several senior Hamas leaders and militant commanders over the years, and the militant group has quickly replaced them. But it has never waged a protracted war against Israel, which it says has killed dozens of high-ranking militants and more than 17,000 fighters, although it has not provided proof of the latter figure.

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