IDF finds Hamas leader Sinwar’s body in tunnel under hospital

The Israeli Defence Forces revealed the tunnel under the European Hospital in Khan Younis where they found Sinwar’s body, along with other Hamas commanders.

Israeli soldiers drag the body of Mohammed Sinwar from the tunnel where he was found. Picture: Israeli Defence Forces.

Israel's military have found the body of Hamas military leader Mohammed Sinwar in a tunnel under a hospital in southern Gaza which they targeted in May.

The Israeli Defence Forces invited journalists into Khan Younis to show the tunnel under the European Hospital where they found the body of Sinwar, along with Muhammad Shabana, commander of the terror group’s Rafah Brigade who had been expected to take over from Sinwar, and Mahdi Quara, commander of the South Khan Younis Battalion.

Mohammed Sinwar was in a tunnel network hit y a massive Israeli air strike in May.

The IDF said it had also found several items belonging to Sinwar and Shabana, including ID cards. Weapons were also found including two Israeli M16 rifles which officials said were trophies from the October 7 massacre.

Other bodies found in the tunnel still undergoing an identification process.

The military said the attack, which struck just outside the entrance to the hospital was part of a precision strike on the terror group. One officer described the missile attack that reportedly killed him as “a world-class air strike”.

“We managed to kill a senior terrorist who was hiding under a hospital, without hitting the hospital,” he said.

A tunnel where Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar’s body was found under the Gaza European Hospital near Khan Yunis. Picture: Getty Images.

“(Israeli forces) would prefer not to hit or target hospitals,” army spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said. Sinwar's body was found in a room under the hospital's emergency room, he said.

The IDF said they had been confident the Hamas leader was killed in the massive bunker buster strike on May 13 but DNA analysis from his body had confirmed his death.

It is still unclear how he died. The military told journalists shockwaves from the blasts could have killed him, suffocated or even starved in the days following the explosions.

The strike that killed Sinwar hit him as he attended a meeting of the group’s highest ranking militants, killing several important operatives and leaving a void in the top leadership of the US-designated terrorist group, Hamas and Arab officials said.

The strikes created a massive crater outside the emergency room of the hospital. Picture: Getty Images.

The Hamas leaders had gathered in a tunnel in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis to discuss matters including their approach to ceasefire talks with Israel when they were hit, the officials said. The meeting went against Hamas’s wartime security protocols and created an opening for Israel to hit several high-value targets at once.

Sinwar became the de facto head of Hamas in Gaza after the death of his brother, one of the architects of the October 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war between the militant group and Israel.

He has been seen by both Israel and Arab negotiators as a major block to ceasefire talks, and security sources told Israeli media his death could mark a major turn for negotiations. Shabana, his trusted lieutenant, had been expected to take over the terror organisation on the event of Sinwar’s death.

Sinwar has been replaced as Hamas’s military leader by Izz al-Din Al-Haddad, former leader of Hamas’s military wing in Khan Younis. Intelligence sources say the man, known locally as Abu Suhaib, is holding Israeli hostages and has veto power on the proposal for a ceasefire deal put forward by President Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff.

With AP