Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Wednesday that Israel had eliminated Mohammed Sinwar, a senior leader of the terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.
Amid shifting regional alliances, Lebanese sources report that the head of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali, who is backed by Algeria’s military regime, has sent his condolences to Hamas’s new leadership, particularly to a figure referred to as Nasrallah, following the elimination of Hassan Nasrallah. This gesture rekindles longstanding ties between the Polisario, Iran, and various Islamist factions active in the region and the Middle East.
In response, Republican Representative Joe Wilson—a key figure in the U.S. Congress from South Carolina—announced the imminent introduction of a bill to designate the Polisario Front as a Foreign Terrorist Organization on the U.S. State Department’s blacklist.
According to the latest reports, Mohammed Sinwar was targeted in a strike carried out by the Israeli military on May 13 in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza. He was the brother of Yahya Sinwar, the former top leader of the Islamist movement, who was himself killed in Gaza in October 2024. Yahya Sinwar is widely considered the mastermind of the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which marked the beginning of the ongoing war in Gaza.
Experts believe Mohammed Sinwar led Hamas’s military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades. This group, along with Hamas’s political wing, is designated as a terrorist organization by both the United States and the European Union.
Meanwhile, Washington on Wednesday announced new visa restrictions targeting foreign officials accused of censoring American citizens on social media. Secretary of State Marco Rubio—under fire for revoking visas of individuals who expressed anti-Israel views—stated that the move was in response to “blatant acts of censorship” targeting American companies abroad.
He noted that thousands of visas had already been revoked, mostly those of students involved in protests against the Israeli offensive in Gaza.
Even Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has distanced himself from Hamas leadership.