Veteran Palestinian prisoner elected new Hamas Gaza chief

This photo taken on October 21, 2011 shows then Hamas leader Ismail Haniyah (L) and Yahya Sinwar (R), a founder of the Ezzedine Qassam Brigades, waving as supporters celebrate the release of hundreds of prisoners following a swap with captured Israeli trooper Gilad Shalit in the southern city of Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip. (Photo by AFP)

The Palestinian Islamic resistance movement, Hamas, has named a high-ranking member of its military wing as its new leader in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas officials said on Monday that Yahya Sinwar, a senior commander of the Ezzedine Qassam Brigades, was elected to head the movement’s political office in Gaza.

He will succeed Ismail Haniya, who served as the democratically-elected prime minister of the Hamas government which took control of the coastal sliver in June 2007. Many observers view Haniyah as the most likely successor to Khaled Meshaal, who is the Hamas political bureau chief and lives in exile in the Qatari capital city of Doha.

Khalil al-Haya was elected as Sinwar's deputy as well.

Sinwar, who is in his mid-50s, is a founder of the Ezzedine Qassam Brigades. Sinwar, who was detained by Israel in 1988, was released in October 2011 under an agreement to exchange about 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for Israeli trooper Gilad Schalit, whom Hamas fighters had captured in a cross-border raid five years earlier.

Sinwar rejects any form of reconciliation with Israel.

The Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli siege since June 2007. The blockade has caused a decline in the standards of living as well as unprecedented levels of unemployment and unrelenting poverty.

Israel has launched several wars on the Palestinian sliver, the last of which began in early July 2014. The 50-day military aggression, which ended on August 26, 2014, killed nearly 2,200 Palestinians, including 577 children. Over 11,100 others -- including 3,374 children, 2,088 women and 410 elderly people -- were also wounded in the war.

The Israeli military also frequently bombs the Gaza Strip, with civilians being the main target of such attacks.

Comments

Bitcoin Laundering” Study: Where Do Criminals Turn to Mask Illicit Cryptoassets?

A recent study ( PDF ) from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Center on Sanctions and Illicit Finance and blockchain analytics company Elliptic explored the “bitcoin laundering” ecosystem. In the study, Elliptic’s forensic analysis of the Bitcoin blockchain and other publicly available data were used to track the flows of illicit funds from 2013 to 2016. “This study aimed to identify where individuals turn in order to cash out or transmit bitcoins (BTC) acquired from illicit entities and to discover typologies for criminals ‘laundering’ bitcoins,” the report says. The study describes bitcoin laundering as a special type of money laundering that exists within the Bitcoin network where a user moves some bitcoins to a new address in a manner that obscures the original source of funds. The conversion of bitcoins into fiat currency on exchanges that lack adequate anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) policies can also fall under the category ...

Soaring Bitcoin Price Leads $159 Billion Crypto Market Recovery

Bitcoin Well, somebody bought the dip. Just as critics were rushing to proclaim that the bitcoin bubble had burst, the markets staged a $159 billion recovery. The rally was headlined by the bitcoin price, which rebounded from its sub-$10,000 fling and is currently flirting with $12,000. Several other top-tier coins, meanwhile, returned single day increases in excess of 40 percent. Source: CoinMarketCap Altogether, the cryptocurrency market cap clawed its way back to $574 billion, representing a 38 percent recovery from Wednesday’s intraday low of $415 billion. Bitcoin Price Eyes $12,000 Wednesday served as a trial-by-fire for recent bitcoin investors, some of whom had purchased the flagship cryptocurrency for $19,000 at the height of the rally in mid-December. Bitcoin Price Chart The correction forced the bitcoin price below $10,000 for the first time since early December, but Thursday’s rally enabled bitcoin to regain a bit...

How to Boost Your Credit—or Build it Up From Nothing

Now that you know how credit works , you probably want to know how to make it work better . While nothing is better for your credit than paying your bills in full and on time, there are ways to give it a boost. Like it or not, credit matters . It’s also complicated. In our “Everything You Need to Know About Credit” series, we’re breaking down the basics. When a lender or landlord looks at your credit, they’re not just looking for a three digit number, they want to know how you actually handle credit. That’s why your credit report is more important than your score. That said, your score matters, too, and the good news is, there are shortcuts for boosting it in a relatively short amount of time. And if you don’t have credit at all — let’s say you’re a teenager about to start college — your biggest focus should be on building up a credit history. That way you can apply for student loans, apartments, and make sure you aren’t gouged on bills . Here are some options...

Gsbt

Search This Blog