Hamas Chief Mohammad Sinwar Killed In Israeli Airstrike: Netanyahu

Benjamin Netanyahu declared in a speech to parliament that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar had been "eliminated," listing him among other senior Hamas figures killed by Israel over the past 20 months.

File photo of Mohammad Sinwar.

Source : X

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed on Wednesday that Mohammad Sinwar, Hamas' Gaza chief and brother of the Palestinian militant group's deceased leader and mastermind of the October 2023 attack, Yahya Sinwar, had been killed by the Israeli military.

Earlier this month, Mohammad Sinwar was targeted by an Israeli strike on a hospital in southern Gaza, following which Netanyahu declared on May 21 that he was likely to be dead, according to a report by the news agency Reuters.

Israeli Prime Minister declared in a speech to parliament that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar had been "eliminated," listing him among other senior Hamas figures killed by Israel over the past 20 months, including Sinwar’s brother.

"In the last two days we have been in a dramatic turn towards a complete defeat of Hamas," Netanyahu said, noting that Israel is now overseeing food distribution in Gaza through a new system managed by a US-backed group. However, Hamas has not yet confirmed the death of Sinwar.

The announcement of Netanyahu has come as the military has intensified its war in Gaza after breaking a ceasefire agreement with Hamas in March. Israel has claimed that they are aiming to sabotage the governing and military capabilities of Hamas and release all the hostages still held in Gaza.

Hamas' Attack On Israel

The war between Israel and Gaza unfolded on October 7, 2023, after Hamas-led militants stormed out of Gaza, entered through southern Israeli communities, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Later, they captured more than 250 Israeli individuals and took them as hostages into Gaza.

Israel's counteroffensive in Gaza has devastated the region, with more than 53,000 people killed, according to Gaza’s health authorities, and over 2 million Palestinians displaced.

Health officials in Gaza claim the majority of those killed have been civilians but have not specified how many fighters were among the dead. Israel maintains that it has eliminated tens of thousands of militants, though it has yet to present evidence supporting those figures.

On May 26, Israeli military chief Eyal Zamir stated that Hamas had suffered significant losses, including the destruction of its command and control infrastructure. Sinwar rose to a senior leadership role in the Palestinian militant group last year after his brother, Yahya Sinwar, was killed by Israeli forces.

Yahya Sinwar was the mastermind behind the October 2023 assault on Israel that ignited the ongoing conflict, now in its 20th month. Following the death of former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran, Yahya was named the group’s overall leader.