Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader who was killed by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip, was the mastermind behind the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that sparked the war.
He rose to the top position in August after the killing of the previous leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in an explosion in Iran that was blamed on Israel. On Thursday, Israel said troops in Gaza had killed Sinwar. A top Hamas political official confirmed the death Friday.
Some things to know about Sinwar:
Sinwar was born in 1962 in a refugee camp in the Gaza town of Khan Younis. He was an early member of Hamas, which was formed in 1987. He eventually led the group's security arm, which worked to purge it of spies for Israel.
Israel arrested him in the late 1980s and he admitted to killing 12 suspected collaborators, a role that earned him the nickname, “The Butcher of Khan Younis.” He was sentenced to four life terms for offenses that included the killing of two Israeli soldiers.
Sinwar organized strikes in prison to improve working conditions. He also studied Hebrew and Israeli society.
He survived brain cancer in 2008 after being treated by Israeli doctors.
Sinwar was released from prison in 2011 by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as part of an exchange for an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas in a cross-border raid.
When Sinwar returned to Gaza, he quickly rose through Hamas' leadership ranks with a reputation for ruthlessness. He was widely believed to be behind the 2016 killing of another top Hamas commander, Mahmoud Ishtewi, in an internal power struggle.
Sinwar became head of Hamas in Gaza, effectively putting him in control of the territory, and worked with Haniyeh to align the group with Iran and its proxies around the region while also building the group's military capabilities.
Sinwar, along with Mohammed Deif, the head of Hamas' armed wing, is believed to have engineered the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
The attack killed about 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, and the militants took some 250 people hostage, sparking the war with Hamas. The conflict has killed over 42,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to local health authorities, who do not distinguish combatants from civilians.
Hamas said it launched the attack in retaliation for Israel's treatment of Palestinians and to push the Palestinian cause back onto the world agenda.
Israel said it killed Deif in an attack in July.
FILE - Yahya Sinwar speaks to foreign correspondents in his office in Gaza City on May 10, 2018. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra, File)
PRAGUE (AP) — The Czech capital has approved a ban on organized nighttime pub crawls, a popular pastime for tourists that has raked in the cash for bars but caused misery for residents and authorities alike.
The outings, which see boisterous tourist groups moving from bar to bar in Prague’s historic district, drew more than 7 million tourists last year. But they have brought loud noises at night and garbage on the streets, and have been one of the more unsavoury outcomes of over-tourism felt across Europe.
Prague finally decided to enforce a ban, which will take effect in November, after trying to deal with groups of rowdy and drunk visitors for years.
Adam Zabranský, a member of the city’s council who drafted the proposal that was approved this week, said the measure will address noise, security and reputational concerns — but its aim wasn't to prevent people from having a drink in this beer-loving country.
"We don’t want to support cheap alco-tourism that’s unfortunately still quite common in Prague,” Zabranský told The Associated Press.
The ban will be enforced by the city police force between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., with organizers of the pub crawls who violate it facing fines of up to 100,000 koruna ($4,300).
The radical move came after previous efforts to deal with the issue failed, including the appointment of a night mayor in 2019, a city official whose job was to minimize the impact of nightlife on residents.
“It would be great if the owners of the establishments take their share of responsibility,” Zabranský said. “As it is, the residents in the busy areas face the negative consequences while the bar owners participating in the pub crawls make profit and don’t care about the problems.”
The move is part of the city’s long-term strategy to promote cultural tourism and to attract people to stay longer than just for a weekend and come back again.
“People coming to experience culture behave differently than those who arrive to drink all weekend long,” Zabranský said.
An agency organizing the pub crawls called the ban “a populist move." A group of dozens of participants on Thursday apparently enjoyed their experience.
“(The pub crawl) was very nice,” Melissa Haine from Germany said. “I think it's very funny, and you get to know new people.”
Another agency, the Drunken Monkey, said in a statement sent to the AP on Friday that by imposing the ban the city ”makes a mistake that will make the situation even worse.”
It argued that organizers and pub crawl guides are the ones “who help the city and police keep people quiet and enforce the rules on noise and others.”
“Without the guides, the problems with noise will become even worse," it said.
The agency said it has not been fined due to noise since its operations began in 2011 and no complaint about noise was registered on the streets they use.
The latest move by Prague doesn’t mean that visitors would face obstacles to tasting local beer in a country that is the world’s largest consumer of the drink per capita.
“Czechia has exceptional potential in beer tourism, thanks to its long history of brewing, unique breweries and the current trend of experiential and sustainable tourism,” said František Reismüller, the head of the country’s tourist authority.
“Our goal is to show that beer travel can be not only about tasting great beer, but also about learning about Czech culture, traditions and history.”
Stanislav Hodina contributed to this report.
A group of tourists stand in line outside a bar as they attend a pub crawl tour in downtown Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
A group of tourists stand in line outside a bar as they attend a pub crawl tour in downtown Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
A group of tourists stand in line outside a bar as they attend a pub crawl tour in downtown Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
A group of tourists stand in line outside a bar as they attend a pub crawl tour in downtown Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
A group of tourists stand in line outside a bar as they attend a pub crawl tour in downtown Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
A group of tourists stand in line outside a bar as they attend a pub crawl tour in downtown Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
