Hamas elects former prisoner as chief of movement in the Gaza Strip

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Election
Gaza, Feb. 13, 2017 (dpa/NAN) The Islamic Hamas movement has chosen Yehya al-Sinwar as its new chief in the Gaza Strip, the group’s Al-Risala said on Monday.
Al-Sinwar is considered a hardliner and is a founding member of the Hamas military wing in the Strip.
He and his deputy, Khalil el-Hayya, were chosen in secret elections, Al Jazeera reported on Monday.
Sources close to Hamas, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that 15 Hamas leaders were elected as the leading council for Gaza.
Born in Khan Younis in 1961, Al-Sinwar was one of the most senior officials released from an Israeli prison in October 2011 in an Egyptian-brokered swap deal that saw 1,027 prisoners walk free.
He had served more than 20 years for his involvement in the 1994 kidnapping and murder of Israeli soldier Nachshon Wachsman.
Al-Sinwar represents “one of the most radical and extreme lines of Hamas,” Kobi Michael, Former Deputy Director General and Head of the Palestinian Desk at the Israeli Ministry for Strategic Affairs said.
He said that the idea that he was elected is a very dangerous and concerning indication of destabilisation in the region.
Al-Sinwar was added to the U.S. terrorism watch list in September 2015.
(dpa/NAN)
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=======/Edited by Celine-Damilola Oyewol/Morayo Omolade