Who was Hamas's Yahya Sinwar?

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was Israel’s most wanted man. Israel's government and military both confirmed on Thursday that he was killed in Gaza in a gunfight during an Israeli operation in Rafah. Hamas has not yet commented on Israel's announcement.

Sinwar was born in the Khan Younis refugee camp, in southern Gaza, in 1962.

His parents were forcibly displaced by Israel from their home in Ashkelon in 1948 during the Nakba (catastrophe), when 750,000 Palestinians were forced out of their homes.

It was at university, in 1982, that he was arrested for the first time by Israeli authorities for involvement in anti-occupation activism.

He was re-arrested three years later and subsequently met Ahmed Yassin, who would go on to found Hamas. Yassin brought Sinwar into his inner circle.

In 1988, he was again arrested by Israeli forces and this time given four life sentences - the equivalent of 426 years in jail.

In captivity he learned Hebrew, frequently reading Israeli newspapers and immersing himself in Israeli politics and culture. He said it helped him better understand his enemy.

In 2011, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, agreed to a deal that saw 1,047 Palestinian prisoners released in exchange for Gilad Shalit - an Israeli soldier who had been abducted in 2006.

Sinwar was one of the most prominent prisoners to be freed as part of that deal.

He quickly rose through the ranks of Hamas upon release and was elected to its political bureau within a year.

"[Sinwar] is a strong supporter of Palestinian unity," Bassem Naim, a Hamas official, told Middle East Eye earlier this year.

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Yahya Sinwar: The refugee and prisoner who went on to lead Hamas