Updated: Al-Qaeda-Associated Writer Eulogizes Hamas Leader Yahya Sinwar, Urges His Successor To Kill Hostages And Send Their Bodies Home Immediately

The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here. 

On October 18, 2024, Al-Qaeda-associated writer Mustafa Hamid aka Abu Al-Walid Al-Masri published an article on his "Political Mafa" website titled "Long Live Yahya Sinwar,"[1] commenting on the Hamas leader's killing in an Israeli operation on the evening of October 16. In the article, Al-Masri urged Sinwar's successor to immediately kill the hostages captured from Israel and send their bodies back to their families, asserting that Hamas' insistence on holding onto live hostages has caused tremendous harm to Gazans and the Palestinian cause.

Opening with the Quranic quote (3:169-170) "Never think of those martyred in the cause of Allah as dead. In fact, they are alive with their Lord, well provided for, rejoicing in Allah’s bounties and being delighted for those yet to join them. There will be no fear for them, nor will they grieve," the article declares that the "beloved" Sinwar went to his death "happy and unafraid," leaving "misery and fear" for those who continue to inhabit the same world as "the worst of Allah's creations, the likes of [Israeli PM Benjamin] Netanyahu, [Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed] bin Salman, [UAE President Mohammed ] bin Zayed, and [Egyptian President Abdel Fattah] El-Sisi, and the rest of the Jewish dung." These rulers are "awaiting the return of Islam … to burn that dung and the thrones that carry it."

Al-Masri further accused those rulers, as well as the "Arabic-speaking Jewish media dung" and the "sheikhs of strife and misguidance," of advocating a "culture of genocide through democratic means." They believe, according to the Al-Qaeda associate, in "the Jews' right to … annihilate the Arabs to establish a Jewish empire in the Middle East after eliminating the Muslims, and to return the Arabs to the desert of the Empty Quarter in the Arabian Peninsula and the Sahara in Africa. Those of them who want to drown in the Mediterranean or Red Seas have full freedom to do so."

The "first obligation" of the "new Sinwar," who Al-Masri claims "will lead the heroes of Gaza now," is to "return the bodies of the Jewish prisoners – 'hostages' – to their families" immediately. He declared that "this file must be closed and not reopened, for we have learned its consequences."

According to the Al-Qaeda associate, Hamas' insistence on holding onto dozens of living hostages abducted from Israel has allowed "the Jews" to kill "about 200,000" Gazans on the pretext of rescuing the hostages. He further asserted that "the Palestinian cause has disappeared and no one mentions anything about it anymore, except as part of the cause of the hostages. Even the great Al-Aqsa Flood has turned into the flood of the Jewish hostages. Al-Aqsa has also been forgotten." Al-Masri added that the cause of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel has been forgotten, as the 240 who were released in November 2023 in exchange for 105 of the hostages "have either been killed, rearrested, or are are living in disgrace from the effects of torture that does not disappear," unlike the "captured Jewish women" who were freed, "waving happily to their young captors."

Quoting Quran 8:67 "It is not fit for a prophet that he should take captives until he has thoroughly subdued the land," Al-Masri urged: "Close the file of the Jewish 'hostages' so that only the file of Palestine and the Al-Aqsa Mosque remain."

Alleging that "not all Jewish prisoners are found in Gaza," Al-Masri wrote: "Perhaps this will be a lesson to those with prisoners … that prisoners should not be held on to, except by those with a specific political or security benefit" from doing so.

Al-Masri concluded: "The Jews closed the file of Yahya Sinwar, as they say, but in truth they opened millions of files."

On October 20, Al-Masri commented on reports by multiple media outlets[2] that he had called for Hamas to free the hostages, calling the reports "deception" by "the Mossad and some channels belonging to the UAE and Saudi Arabia." Insisting that he has never been an Al-Qaeda member, he also clarified that he had meant "to execute the hostages and send them as corpses to their families."[3]

A previous version of this MEMRI JTTM report also reported that Al-Masri had urged the release of the hostages, understanding the reference to their "bodies" as a sign that the Al-Qaeda associate believed they were no longer alive.

Hamas acknowledged Sinwar's death on October 18, but has not yet announced a successor.[4]

A close confidant of Osama bin Laden and the father-in-law of Muhammad Salah Al-Din Zaydan aka Sayf Al-'Adl – who is widely believed to have taken over leadership of Al-Qaeda following the July 2022 killing of Ayman Al-Zawahiri – Al-Masri is reportedly residing in Iran and was described by the U.S. Treasury Department as a "senior Al-Qaeda associate who served as a primary interlocutor between Al-Qaeda and the Government of Iran."[5] In a November 2023 article, Al-Masri praised Hamas' "creative" attack on Israel.[6] However, in December he published an article harshly criticizing the Hamas-Israel hostage deal as empowering Qatar at Hamas' expense, and suggesting that Israel was the "architect" of the October 7 attack, which enabled it to destroy Hamas militarily and replace the group's leadership.[7]