Cairo: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Wednesday that Mohammed Sinwar, believed to be the head of Hamas’ armed wing, has been killed. The statement appeared to confirm Sinwar’s death in a recent Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip, though Hamas has not yet issued any confirmation.
Mohammed Sinwar was the younger brother of Yahya Sinwar, a key Hamas leader who played a central role in planning the October 7, 2023, attack that ignited the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. Yahya Sinwar was killed by Israeli forces in October 2024.
Israeli airstrikes over the 19-month-long conflict have significantly weakened Hamas’ leadership. Mohammed Sinwar was among the last prominent Hamas commanders still believed to be alive in Gaza. Despite the leadership losses, Hamas continues to control parts of Gaza not occupied by Israeli forces, holding dozens of hostages and launching sporadic attacks on Israeli positions.
As the leader of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Sinwar would have played a crucial role in approving any potential agreement on hostage release. His reported death could further complicate ongoing efforts by the United States and Arab nations to broker a ceasefire. Israel maintains its commitment to continuing the war until all hostages are released and Hamas is either dismantled or forced into exile.
Prime Minister Netanyahu made the announcement during a speech before the Israeli parliament, where he named several top Hamas leaders who have been killed during the war. “We have killed tens of thousands of terrorists. We killed (Mohammed) Deif, (Ismail) Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Sinwar,” Netanyahu said, offering no further details.
Israeli media reports suggest that Mohammed Sinwar was the target of a May 13 airstrike on what the Israeli military identified as a Hamas command centre beneath the European Hospital in Khan Younis, the Sinwar family’s hometown in southern Gaza. The military has neither confirmed nor denied whether Sinwar was among those killed in the strike, which left at least six dead and wounded 40 others, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Born in 1975 in the Khan Younis refugee camp, Mohammed Sinwar’s family were among the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced during the 1948 war following the creation of the state of Israel. As descendants of refugees, they belong to a demographic that now makes up the majority of Gaza’s population.
Like his older brother Yahya, Mohammed joined Hamas after its founding in the late 1980s as the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. He became active in its military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, eventually rising through the ranks to become a senior member of the group’s joint chiefs of staff. His proximity to Mohammed Deif, the longtime commander of the Qassam Brigades, who was also killed last year, reflected his status within Hamas’ military hierarchy.
Mohammed Sinwar played a role in several high-profile operations, including the 2006 cross-border attack on an Israeli army post in which Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit was captured. Schalit was held for five years before being exchanged for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, a deal that also resulted in the release of Yahya Sinwar.
In a 2021 interview with Qatar-based Al Jazeera, Mohammed Sinwar stated that Hamas was capable of targeting specific vulnerabilities in Israel. Over the years, Israel has attempted to eliminate him multiple times and briefly believed he was killed during a 2014 operation. He was considered one of the few commanders aware in advance of the October 7 attack that triggered the current war.
In December 2023, the Israeli military released footage allegedly showing Mohammed Sinwar inside a vehicle traveling through a tunnel in Gaza. Hamas did not confirm the identity of the person in the video, which remains one of the few purported public images of him.
With PTI inputs