🧵Yahya Sinwar’s journey as a leader is unique and began at an early age. He broke the traditional military hierarchy, starting as a leader from the very beginning of his activism. His leadership grew over time, even in prison, and ultimately, he was martyred as a soldier on the front lines. His life, especially his youth and his years in prison, was shrouded in mystery for much of the world. His close friend, Dr. Mamoun Abu Amer, who knew him since their university days, provides detailed insights into his formative years and rise to prominence.🧵

Dr. Mamoun recalls how he first met Yahya Sinwar in 1980 at the newly opened Islamic University of Gaza. Yahya was from Khan Younis, and Mamoun from Gaza City. Although Mamoun had heard of Sinwar before, it wasn’t until they both entered the university as part of the first group

During this period, the late 1970s and early 1980s, Gaza was experiencing a shift towards Islamic activism, and Sinwar was deeply involved. Although he wasn’t openly affiliated with any specific organization at first, it became clear later that he was connected with the Muslim

Even as a young man, Sinwar’s concerns went beyond the immediate issues facing Palestinians. He often talked about the Islamic Ummah (the global Muslim community) and what needed to be done to liberate Palestine. At a time when most of their peers were focused on day-to-day life,

One of the key stories that illustrates Sinwar’s practical intelligence and strategic thinking took place during the construction of the Islamic University of Gaza. The university, which was the first of its kind in Gaza, faced constant interference from Israeli settlers and

Another significant event in Sinwar’s early activism occurred in 1980, when Israeli settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque. News of this outrage quickly reached the university, and while many students were unsure of what to do, Sinwar immediately took charge. He gathered a group of

During this time, tensions between Hamas and Fatah were also rising, especially within the university. Sinwar often led protests, not just against the Israeli occupation, but also against what he saw as corruption within Fatah. These protests sometimes escalated into clashes with

One of the defining aspects of Sinwar’s early activism was his focus on collaborators—Palestinians who were working with Israeli intelligence. Sinwar viewed these collaborators as a major threat to the Palestinian cause, and he became obsessed with rooting them out. This led him

Weapons were extremely difficult to come by in Gaza during the early 1980s, as the Israelis had tight control over arms smuggling. Sinwar and others involved in the early stages of the resistance had to work with whatever outdated or unreliable weapons they could get their hands

Eventually, Sinwar and the others involved in Majd began taking more direct actions against collaborators, including targeted assassinations. Some of the early operations were carried out as messages to others—warnings that collaboration with the Israelis would not be tolerated.

One particularly difficult moment came when Sinwar’s group mistakenly killed an innocent man. The intelligence they had gathered was incorrect, and the man was wrongly identified as a collaborator. This mistake weighed heavily on Sinwar, who took personal responsibility for the

Sinwar’s personal life was marked by humility and a strong work ethic. Unlike some of his contemporaries, who came from more comfortable backgrounds, Sinwar worked hard to support his family. His father worked inside Israel, as many Palestinians did at the time, but Sinwar

As tensions between Palestinians and the Israeli occupation escalated, Sinwar’s role within Hamas grew. By the mid-1980s, he was already considered a key figure within the movement, helping to plan military actions and organizing underground resistance. His strategic thinking and

In 1988, during the First Intifada, Sinwar was arrested by Israeli forces as part of a broader crackdown on Hamas and its military activities. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, primarily due to his involvement in orchestrating the killing of collaborators. Despite being

Sinwar’s time in prison was critical to his development as a leader. He quickly rose to a leadership role among Palestinian prisoners, organizing hunger strikes and protests against the harsh conditions imposed by the Israeli prison authorities. He also learned Hebrew fluently

Perhaps one of Sinwar’s most significant achievements during his imprisonment was his role in the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange deal. As one of the senior Hamas leaders in prison, Sinwar played a key role in the negotiations that eventually secured the release of over 1,000

After his release, Sinwar quickly ascended to leadership within Hamas, becoming the head of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. His focus was on building Hamas’s military capabilities, particularly through the development of rockets and the construction

One of Sinwar’s greatest achievements after his release was his ability to unite the various Palestinian factions in Gaza. Despite ideological differences between groups like Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and leftist factions, Sinwar played a key role in bringing them together to