The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Saturday confirmed the killing of senior Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar in an airstrike carried out on May 13 in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. According to the IDF, the strike—conducted in coordination with Israel’s internal security agency Shin Bet—targeted an underground Hamas command and control center located beneath the European Hospital. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the IDF wrote: “We eliminated the Head of Hamas, again. He happens to be a Sinwar too.”
Successor to Yahya Sinwar, killed in October
Mohammed Sinwar had taken over Hamas’s leadership following the deaths of his brother Yahya Sinwar and military commander Mohammed Deif in Israeli strikes last October. The IDF claimed Sinwar played a “significant role in planning and executing the brutal October 7 massacre.”
Other senior Hamas figures killed in same strike
The May 13 operation also killed two other high-ranking Hamas operatives: Muhammad Shabana, commander of the Rafah Brigade, and Mehdi Kuwara, head of the Khan Younis battalion. Both were identified by the IDF as senior figures involved in the October 7 attack and in holding Israeli hostages. While Israel has confirmed the deaths, Hamas has neither acknowledged nor denied the claims. Health officials in Gaza said 28 people were killed in the strike, but did not provide identities.
Ceasefire signals amid ongoing operations
The confirmation of Sinwar's death comes amid indications that both Israel and Hamas may be open to a new US-brokered ceasefire proposal, following the collapse of earlier truce efforts in March. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has maintained that military operations will not stop until Hamas is completely dismantled. After the May 13 strike, Netanyahu vowed to “go in with full force to complete the operation and free the remaining hostages.”
Who was Mohammed Sinwar?
Born in 1975 in the Khan Younis refugee camp in southern Gaza, Mohammed Sinwar was part of a Palestinian refugee family displaced during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Like his older brother Yahya, he joined Hamas after its founding in the late 1980s as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Sinwar rose through the ranks of Hamas’s military wing, the Qassam Brigades, eventually becoming a member of its so-called joint chiefs of staff. He was a close associate of longtime Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif, who was killed in an Israeli strike last year.
Tied to 2006 abduction of Israeli soldier
Sinwar played a key role in the 2006 cross-border raid in which Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit was captured. Schalit was held for five years and eventually exchanged for over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners—including Yahya Sinwar.
A secretive leader with limited public presence
Known for operating in secrecy, Mohammed Sinwar was believed to be among a select few Hamas leaders who were informed in advance about the October 7 attacks. In December 2023, Israel released a rare video allegedly showing Sinwar riding in a tunnel in Gaza, but Hamas never confirmed the footage.
In a 2021 interview with Qatar’s Al Jazeera, Sinwar said Hamas knew “how to specify the location that hurts the occupation and how to press them,” reflecting the group’s strategic posture in its conflict with Israel.
(With agency inputs)