The Sinwar family, one of the most well-known families in the Gaza Strip, played a central role in leading the Hamas terror organization. Two of its sons – Yahya and Mohammed Sinwar – became key figures in both the political and military wings of the group, with Yahya the mastermind of the October 7 massacre. Yahya was eliminated in October 2024, and last week, his brother Mohammed – considered Hamas’s top military commander in southern Gaza – was reportedly also killed. This morning (Sunday), their third brother, Dr. Zakaria Sinwar, was added to the list.
The Sinwar family was expelled from the ruins of al-Majdal, today’s Ashkelon, during the battle for the city in the 1948 War of Independence. Before the war, the city had a population of 10,000 and was a regional trading hub. After the outbreak of the war and the Egyptian army’s failure to stop the IDF’s advance, the Egyptian military retreated along with the city’s residents on November 4, 1948, into the Gaza Strip. Following this retreat, the Sinwar family settled in the Khan Younis refugee camp in southern Gaza.
Who Was Zakaria?
Zakaria Ibrahim Hassan al-Sinwar, also known as Abu Yahya, was born in Khan Younis, Gaza in 1965.
Zakaria served as the director of the Oral History Center at the Islamic University and was a senior lecturer in the university’s history department in the Faculty of Arts. Additionally, he was a faculty member at the Lebanese Academy for Teaching Staff.
Zakaria was killed overnight in an Israeli Air Force strike on the tent where he was staying in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. Three of his sons were also killed in the same strike.
By midday, Al Jazeera reported that while Zakaria’s body was being moved to a morgue, a pulse was detected. He was subsequently taken in critical condition for medical treatment.
Yahya Sinwar
Yahya Sinwar, the former Hamas leader in Gaza and a native of Khan Younis refugee camp, was one of the founders of Hamas and its military wing. After spending years in Israeli prison for terrorist activities, he was released in the Gilad Shalit deal in 2011. He became the most powerful figure in Hamas and in Gaza as a whole, assuming leadership in 2017 when he replaced Ismail Haniyeh. Yahya consolidated power, led Hamas’s military buildup, and directed its political and military strategies against Israel, culminating in the October 7 incursion and massacres, which saw over 1200 men women and children butchered. He was eliminated by the IDF in October 2024.
Mohammed Sinwar
Mohammed Sinwar, Yahya’s younger brother, served as the commander of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade and was later appointed as commander of the group’s military wing following the elimination of Mohammed Deif. He was involved in numerous terror attacks, including the abduction of Gilad Shalit, and led the tunnel operations in northern Gaza. He was killed in an Israeli strike in May 2025.
Together, the brothers were considered the hard core of Hamas leadership – a single family that formed a central axis in the organization’s power structure.
Hamas Leadership After the Sinwar Family
Following the elimination of the Sinwar brothers, Hamas is now facing a deep leadership crisis. In place of a centralized leadership, a temporary management committee has been established, consisting of five senior figures: Khaled Mashal, Khalil al-Hayya, Zaher Jabarin, Muhammad Ismail Darwish, and Nizar Awadallah.
At the same time, Ezz al-Din al-Haddad, commander of Hamas’s Gaza City Brigade and a prominent figure in the group’s current military leadership, has been marked as a potential successor to Mohammed Sinwar.
