Palestinian Liberation Organization eulogizes Hamas chief Sinwar as a 'great national leader'

The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), led by Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, expressed its condolences over the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the architect of the Oct. 7 massacre in southern Israel last year.

The PLO extolled the “martyrdom” of Sinwar and stating he was a “great national leader.”

Abbas’ Fatah party also voiced its condolences, saying that Israel’s “killing and terrorism will not succeed in breaking the will of our people.”

Last Wednesday, IDF soldiers killed Sinwar in Rafah, in southern Gaza near the Egyptian border.

The Hamas terrorist organization also mourned its leader's death, with senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya praising Sinwar and asserting that his death “will only make Hamas stronger and more resilient in its pursuit of establishing a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.”

Al-Hayya repeated Sinwar's stance in the negotiations with Israel, stating that Hamas “will not release Israeli hostages until Israel ceases its aggression on Gaza.”

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with Hamas representatives on Friday, reportedly saying Turkey would “use all diplomatic means to mobilize the international community against the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.”

The PLO and the Turkish government expressed their condolences just hours after Hamas confirmed Sinwar’s death.

In recent months, the PA began to criticize Hamas for risking the lives of Palestinians in Gaza while fighting Israel.

In June, the PA's official daily newspaper, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida wrote, “Hamas serves their Iranian ‘masters’ dead Palestinians are just ‘human sacrifices’ in exchange for money.”

“The Hamas leaders view the [Palestinian] victims of their hopeless policy as a project of ‘human sacrifices’ permitted for slaughter when and how they want. Not only that, they also dedicate the blood of these Palestinian human sacrifices – which is more precious than all the treasures of the world – to their Persian [Iranian] masters, in order to ensure monetary liquidity,” the PA daily wrote, according to Palestinian Media Watch.

Abbas has never publicly condemned Hamas for the Oct. 7 invasion and mass terror attack, while the atrocities received widespread approval (85%) among Palestinians, according to a poll released by AWRAD (Arab World for Research and Development). At the time, 68% of West Bank residents strongly backed Hamas' invasion of southern Israel.

U.S. President Joe Biden, along with other world leaders, continues to press Israel to agree to a two-state solution with a “reformed” Palestinian Authority to retain control of Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refuses to support the creation of a Palestinian state, stressing that it poses too high of a security risk for the Jewish state.