Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip and mastermind behind the October 7 massacres in southern Israel, has been added to the EU sanctions list.
Hamas is already listed as a terror group by the EU.
The decision announced Tuesday means that Sinwar is subject to an asset freeze in the 27-nation EU and bans EU citizens conducting transactions with him. Sinwar, 61, has not been seen since October 7.
‘’I congratulate European Union member states on their decvision to add Yahya Sinwar, political leader of the Hamas, to the sanctions lists. This is a just and moral decision. I thank all our friends that supported this decision. This decision is also a result of our diplomatic efforts to strangle the resources of the Hamas, to deligitimize them and prohibit all support to them. We will continue to eradicate the root of evil, in Gaza and wherever it raises its head,’’ wrote Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz on X.
Nicknamed “the butcher of Khan Younis” for his ruthlessness, Sinwar has been the head of Hamas’ political bureau in Gaza since 2017. He was added to the US list of the most wanted “international terrorists” in 2015, as was Mohammed Deif, commander of Hamas’s armed wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, who is another October 7 mastermind.
The October 7 attacks, the worst in Israel’s history, resulted in about 1,140 deaths, mostly civilians. 240 people have been taken as hostages in the Gaza Strip. 132 are still in he hands of the terror group.