Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Hamas Gaza chief, Mohammad Sinwar, has been eliminated.
Sinwar was one of Israel‘s most wanted and the younger brother of the militant group’s former leader Yahya Sinwar, who was killed in October 2024.
Netanyahu, speaking at the Knesset this afternoon said: ‘We have eliminated Mohammed Deif, Yahya Sinwar, and Mohammed Sinwar’.
Israeli media had reported that Sinwar was targeted in Israeli air strikes in southern Gaza earlier this month.
According to reports, Sinwar was killed on May 13 after the IDF dropped a large number of bombs on a tunnel hideout under a hospital in Gaza.
Earlier in mid-May, Defense Minister Israel Katz told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that there were rising indications that Sinwar was dead.
It comes seven months after former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed by a single gunshot to his head after an hour-long firefight of trainee soldiers on a routine operation in the Rafah area of the Gaza Strip.
Yahya, known as the architect of the October 7 massacre, was killed after being hunted by intelligence services and the Israeli Defence Forces for over a year.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Hamas Gaza chief, Mohammad Sinwar, pictured, has been eliminated
It comes after his brother, Yahya Sinwar, was eliminated in October
During the fierce battle, two militants fled to one building while Yahya – whose identity was not known by the Israelis until much later – escaped to another.
In a graphic display of the intensity of the encounter, the Hamas leader was found with electric cable tied in a makeshift tourniquet around his arm, which was wounded by shrapnel from a small missile or tank shell.
The terrorist chief was later shot in the head, the director of Israel’s national forensic institute revealed at the time.
It was not known who fired the bullet or what kind of weapon was used to deliver the fatal blow.
After the dust had cleared, Israeli soldiers realised the body found in the rubble of the now-blown apart building bore a striking resemblance to Yahya.
They cut off one of his fingers to confirm his identity.
According to the Israeli military, Yahya had been forced out of the underground lair where he was cowering as they covertly closed off streets and blew up tunnels in the area.
This is a breaking news story. More to follow.
