Israel targets Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar in Gaza air strike

The Israeli military is increasingly optimistic Mohammed Sinwar has been killed in a massive strike, after it received intelligence he was in an underground bunker without his human shield of hostages.

Mohammed Sinwar, younger brother of slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

Israeli’s military is increasingly optimistic that they have killed Hamas’s top leader in Gaza in an air strike which if successful would mark an important military victory at a time when the country is under pressure to wrap up its 18-month-long war in the enclave.

An Israeli official said the strike was aimed at Mohammed Sinwar, who effectively took over as the head of Hamas in Gaza after Israel killed his brother, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, in October. The strike hit an underground site near the European Hospital in Khan Younis, targeting a Hamas command and control facility, Israel’s military said. Gaza’s health ministry said six people were killed and more than 40 injured as a result of the strike. It could take days for Israel to determine whether the strike was successful in killing Sinwar, said another official.

צה"ל ושב"כ השמידו תשתית טרור תת-קרקעית של ארגון הטרור חמאס מתחת לבית החולים האירופאי שבחאן יונס שבדרום רצועת עזה

מתחילת המלחמה, צה"ל ושב"כ פועלים להשמדה ונטרול של תשתיות תת-קרקע של ארגון הטרור חמאס ברצועת עזה.

מוקדם יותר היום, צה"ל ושב"כ תקפו באופן ממוקד מחבלים בארגון הטרור… pic.twitter.com/gdLAJOpWJ4

— צבא ×”×”×’× ×” לישראל (@idfonline) May 13, 2025

However Israeli media reports that military sources believe the terror leader could not survive the attack, which included dozens of bunker busting bombs of the type that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut last year. A security source told Israel’s Channel 12 TV: “It will take time, but we are optimistic - it will be difficult for him to get out of this alive.”

The Kan broadcaster - Israel’s equivalent of the BBC - reported: “It is estimated that everyone in the compound, including other senior figures in the organisation, did not survive the attack.”

Sources told the broadcaster those who weren’t killed in the initial strike could not survive the “toxic gases” in the bunker released as a result of the attack.

It has previously been reported that intelligence services had known the whereabouts of Sinwar for months but would not move to kill him because as he moved around Gaza, he kept a human shield of hostages around him.

However on Tuesday (local time), agents received information that he was located under the European Hospital - with no hostages near. Within an hour of making the decision to attack, Israeli planes were in the air, dropping dozens of bombs in the first strike, with a second attack to ensure there was no rescue attempt. Ynet TV reported the decision to strike was made so quickly there was no time to warn the US ahead of the attack - or to take into account the fact Donald Trump was in Saudi Arabia at the time.

📹 مشاهد أخرى للحزام الناري الذي استهدف المستشفى الأوروبي في #خان_يونس جنوب قطاع #غزة. pic.twitter.com/M5C7hvKddI

— عربي بوست (@arabic_post) May 13, 2025

Mohammed Sinwar was responsible for building up Hamas’s military wing, and was close to the U.S.-designated terrorist group’s top military commander, Mohammed Deif, who was killed by Israel last year. His brother Yahya, was the mastermind behind the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel that launched the war. Israel killed three of Yahya Sinwar’s top deputies throughout the war, including Deif, and Hamas’s political head Ismail Haniyeh.

If Mohammed Sinwar is dead, it would mean that the most important Hamas leaders behind the Oct. 7 attack have been taken out by Israel. After the Oct. 7 attack, Israel vowed to kill all of Hamas’s top leadership, including those abroad, and anyone who took part in or planned the attack.

Analysts say it could be a moment for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire deal that would bring home the remaining Israeli hostages and still be able to declare a victory.

The attack on Sinwar comes as Israel is under pressure by the U.S. to agree to a deal that would ultimately lead to an end to the war. In Riyadh on Tuesday, President Trump said that he was pushing Israel to end the war.

“We continue to work to get that war ended as quickly as possible,” he said. “It is a horrible thing that is taking place.” Israel has said it would continue its war in Gaza until Hamas was uprooted from power, but the country has yet to translate its tactical gains into a strategic victory. Earlier this month, Israel’s cabinet approved a new ground operation in Gaza that would include conquering and holding territory and could ultimately require tens of thousands of troops. At the time, officials said they wouldn’t begin the new assault until after Trump’s trip to the Middle East, to give time for negotiations to bear fruit.

Netanyahu is still pushing back against calls to end the war, arguing that it would leave Hamas in power. Despite sending a negotiating team to the Qatari capital, Doha, for ceasefire talks this week, Netanyahu on Tuesday said Israel would “with full force” pick up the tempo of its current operation in Gaza.

“There won’t be a situation where we stop the war. We can do a ceasefire for a set period, but we are going all the way,” Netanyahu said in comments released by his office.

The new rounds of ceasefire negotiations came as Hamas released an American-Israeli hostage, Edan Alexander, on Monday as part of a deal with the U.S.

Hussein Khreis, 27, was sitting inside the European Hospital when he heard multiple air strikes hit the area. He said he saw several dead and injured outside the hospital grounds and damage to a bus next to a crater in the ground.

Mohammed Sinwar is believed to be about 50 and has long been considered close to his older brother, who was more than 10 years his senior. Like Yahya Sinwar, he joined Hamas at an early age.

Unlike his brother, who spent more than two decades in an Israeli prison, Mohammed hasn’t spent a significant amount of time in Israeli jail and is less understood by Israel’s security establishment. He has operated largely behind the scenes, according to Arab officials, earning him the nickname “Shadow.” Mohammed Sinwar is at the centre of Hamas’s revival effort, in which the group recruited new fighters and began to rebuild ahead of Israel’s renewed offensive. Close to Hamas’s military wing, he formerly headed the Khan Younis brigade, which was responsible for the 2006 capture of an Israeli soldier who was ultimately traded for Yahya Sinwar’s release from an Israeli prison.

When Israeli soldiers killed his brother, the movement’s officials, based in Doha, decided to form a collective leadership council rather than appoint a new chief. But Hamas militants in Gaza didn’t go along and have been operating autonomously under the younger Sinwar, according to Arab mediators involved in ceasefire talks with Israel.

With Dow Jones