Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday confirmed that Hamas commander Mohammed Sinwar was killed in an Israeli airstrike on May 13. Speaking before parliament on Wednesday, Netanyahu included Sinwar in a list of Hamas leaders killed by Israel in the war-battered enclave.
This was first official acknowledgment of Sinwar’s death following earlier statements by defense minister Israel Katz in mid-May.
IDF sources had expressed skepticism about foreign media reports claiming Sinwar’s body was recovered alongside about a dozen aides, including Rafah brigade chief Mohammed Shabanah, seen as Sinwar’s likely successor. However, sources told The Jerusalem Post that the two Hamas leaders were together at the time of the strike, making it highly probable both were killed.
The strike on May 13 involved heavy bombing of a Hamas tunnel complex beneath a hospital in Gaza, where Sinwar was believed to be hiding.
Mohammed Sinwar had taken over as Hamas leader after his brother, Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the October 7 attacks, was killed by Israeli forces in Rafah. Since then, Mohammed Sinwar had been overseeing the fate of 58 Israeli hostages, of whom approximately 21 are believed to still be alive.
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