In an interview with the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations website, Mansour Barati stated, “Mr. Sinwar’s election can be evaluated in several ways, and one of the most important of them is his comparison with Mr. Haniyeh and the impact of this choice on the future of the war and the ceasefire negotiations between the Israeli regime and Hamas.”

Barati continued, “Ismail Haniyeh was a member of Hamas’s political bureau, not considered a member of the military branch, and never held a military position.” He was considered among Hamas’s more pragmatic spectrum, which also had a relatively Brotherhood tendency.

He added: “The assassination of Haniyeh and the election of Sinwar by Hamas as the new leader actually sent this message to the Israeli regime that you assassinated a person who was more moderate, pragmatic, and more politically engaged, and now a person has taken over in his place who is much more idealistic and stricter and less willing to engage in politics.”

The expert on Palestinian issues explained Yahya Sinwar’s characteristics and features: “One of Sinwar’s characteristics is that in the last ten months, he has always put forward two conditions for the ceasefire negotiations: First, the ceasefire will be done in exchange for the exchange of Israeli prisoners in exchange for the end of the war, and he does not accept a temporary ceasefire.

Second, it emphasizes that Israeli forces must evacuate most of Gaza when the ceasefire is established.

He added: “The stability of Mr. Sinwar’s steps regarding these issues shows that he is tougher than Mr. Haniyeh, and it will become more difficult for the Israeli regime to reach a solution.”

According to Barati, on the other hand, the Israeli regime also wanted to send the message by assassinating Mr. Haniyeh that the new person who was chosen as the leader of Hamas would be assassinated if he did not fall short in front of the Israeli regime. All in all, the election of Mr. Sianwar with the mentioned characteristics is a strong message for the Israeli regime.

Of course, the selection of Yahya Sinwar as Mr. Haniyeh’s successor also contains messages for the region.

This researcher explained in this regard: “The message of Sinwar’s election for the region is that Hamas will continue to be close to Iran and maintain its relationship with various parts of the Resistance Axis. This means that Hamas will continue on the same path it took during the last four or five months in the regional sphere. During this time, it distanced itself from Qatar to some extent and tried not to fall under the pressure of Egypt.

He added: “We know that Sinwar supports the development of Hamas’ relations with Iran, and since he was elected as the leader of Hamas in Gaza in 2017, the path that Hamas had taken during the previous five or six years changed to a great extent. ”

The expert stated that a part of the Syrian opposition was formed by the Muslim Brotherhood. He explained: “Due to this ideological similarity, Hamas strongly supported the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood and even trained Brotherhood forces in the Syrian war.”

He emphasized that this process lasted until 2017, and this year when Khalid Meshaal’s term ended, Ismail Haniyeh was elected the leader of Hamas. People like Mahmoud al-Zahar and Yahya Sinwar also took over the affairs inside Gaza and gained more power than before.”

Barati said that, at this point, the process was reversed and Hamas got closer to Iran.