Report: Hamas leader ordered return of suicide bombings

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has ordered that suicide bombings be restarted, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The order comes after Sinwar took full responsibility for Hamas, following the deaths of Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh. A few days after the order was given, a terrorist entered Tel Aviv with a backpack loaded with explosives. The bag exploded before he could carry out an attack, killing only the terrorist.

Suicide attacks were a main feature of the Second Intifada in the early 2000s. The attacks did not force the Israeli government to concessions, however, and the backlash was significant.

Arab intelligence officials who said they communicate “regularly” with Sinwar told WSJ that although there were misgivings within Hamas, no one was willing to speak out against suicide bombings.

Matthew Levitt, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute think tank, told WSJ, “Under Sinwar, Hamas can be expected to be a much clearer-cut, hard-line fundamentalist organization.”