Sinwar put to rest the debate in the hours after the previous Hamas political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in a Tehran apartment under Iranian military guard. When members of the group gathered to select a replacement, Sinwar—believed to be in hiding in a Gaza tunnel—interrupted the deliberations with a message: The new leader must be someone close to Iran, said Arab and Hamas officials familiar with the matter.

By Tuesday, Hamas announced Sinwar as its new leader. The decision sidelined other Hamas leaders negotiating with Israel, including Khaled Meshaal, who was supported by Hamas’s longtime Sunni backers, Turkey and Qatar. Sinwar’s victory over Meshaal underscored Iran’s growing sway in the Sunni Muslim world.

“It clearly puts at the top of the group someone who is seen to be much closer to Iran,” said Hugh Lovatt, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, who had heard the movement was deadlocked over the decision.

That Hamas’s senior members would elevate Sinwar indicates the movement supports his strategy of waging war against Israel alongside Iran’s militia allies. Sinwar wants to achieve Palestinian statehood and shares Iran’s goal of destroying the state of Israel to achieve it.

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