Most Israelis “encountered” Sinwar through a handful of moments and snapshots of his life, some occurring at key junctions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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Israelis first discovered Sinwar during his time in prison, and more specifically through a rare interview he gave to an Israeli TV channel in 2006. The interview was conducted in Hebrew with an already grey-headed Sinwar, who had been in prison since 1988.
The man who would become the “architect” of the October 7 attacks spoke Hebrew quite well. At the time, he struck a relatively conciliatory tone: Hamas, he said, was aware that Israel could not be destroyed. Hamas was ready for a Hudna (a long-term truce) and would stick to its word if an agreement was reached.
However, Sinwar warned: “Just like we made life hell for Israelis during the period of resistance to the occupation, we will make life hell for them even during the period of talks (for a Hudna)”. In private, Sinwar was even more straightforward, as per some of his interrogators. He warned one of them that, one day, the roles would be reversed, and the tables would be turned.
The same year the interview was broadcast, Hamas would carry out a kidnapping operation that led to the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. One of the masterminds of the operation was none other than Mohammad Sinwar, the brother of Yahya. Kidnapping had become the Sinwars’ signature move and perpetual goal.
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Four years later, Israelis were reintroduced to Sinwar, this time seeing him in a much more triumphant light: in a bus bound for Gaza, holding the green flag of Hamas, his head wrapped in a headband belonging to Hamas’s al-Qassam Brigades, and a Palestinian flag on his shoulder. Sinwar was free.
