Nicknamed Abu al-Abd, he was appointed as a member of the secretive "collective leadership" team in 2004 after Sheik Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz Rantisi — Hamas' two previous leaders — were killed by Israel. FILE: Head of the Hamas political bureau ...

Since launching its retaliatory war in Gaza, Israel claims to have eliminated the leaders of militant groups including, Sinwar, the mastermind of the 7 October attack on Israel, and Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an airstrike on a building complex in Beirut.

The Israeli official threatened to take similar action against the leadership of the Houthi rebel group in Yemen.

Israel’s current government is opposed to Palestinian statehood and says it will maintain open-ended security control over the territory. Violence has soared in the West Bank following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, which ignited the war there.