Israel says Hamas Gaza chief Sinwar’s body identified

47 minutes ago Share Save Aleks Phillips BBC News Sebastian Usher BBC News Reporting from Jerusalem Share Save

IDF The Israeli military released a video in December 2023 that it said showed Mohammed Sinwar being driven through a Hamas underground tunnel

The Israeli military has said it has located and identified the body of Mohammed Sinwar, the military leader of Palestinian armed group Hamas in Gaza. His body was discovered in a tunnel underneath the European Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Sunday. It said it had verified the body’s identity through DNA checks – though Hamas has not publicly confirmed his death. Sinwar, 49, was killed in an air strike on 13 May, which the Hamas-run civil defence agency said killed 28 people and injured dozens.

IDF The IDF said Sinwar’s body was found alongside others in a tunnel beneath the European Hospital in Khan Younis

Sinwar’s body was found alongside that of Mohammad Sabaneh, the commander of Hamas’s Rafah Brigade, the IDF said. It added that “several items belonging to Sinwar and Sabaneh were located, along with additional intelligence findings that were transferred for further investigation”. The IDF said other bodies were found, which it was looking to identify. It took a small group of foreign journalists into Gaza to Khan Younis to show them the tunnel on Sunday. It also published video of the small entrance to the tunnel, accessible through freshly dug earth just in front of the European Hospital. The footage shows a long, narrow underground corridor that leads to several rooms. Inside some of them, piles of clothes and plastic chairs are visible, with a rifle leaning up against the wall. One video also shows a shrouded body being pulled from the tunnel by a rope. IDF spokesperson Brig Gen Effie Defrin said that in one of the rooms they found the Sinwar’s body. “This is another example of the cynical use by Hamas, using civilians as human shields, using civilian infrastructure, hospitals, again and again,” he said.

Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of using hospitals as hiding places for weapons and command centres, which the group denies. The IDF has mounted sieges and attacks on hospitals in Gaza, or ordered their evacuation, leaving the territory’s health system on the verge of total collapse. Such attacks have caused widespread international concern, as many hospitals and medical facilities have been put out of action – and the lives of patients and staff put at risk. In a statement after an Israeli strike on al-Ahli hospital in April, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres expressed his deep alarm and declared that, under international humanitarian law, the “wounded and sick, medical personnel and medical facilities, including hospitals, must be respected and protected”. Hospital staff in Gaza have also repeatedly denied that Hamas is using their facilities as a base. The IDF will point to this latest footage as vindication of its claims and its military strategy. As with so much in Gaza, however, full independent verification is not possible.

IDF The IDF said items belonging to Sinwar were found in the tunnel

The Israeli army says it has retrieved the body of Hamas military chief Mohammed al-Sinwar in an underground tunnel beneath a hospital in the south of the Gaza Strip, following a targeted operation last month.

Another senior Hamas leader, Mohammad Shabana, commander of the Rafah Brigade, was also found dead at the scene along with a number of other militants, who are still being identified, IDF spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said.

Israeli forces gave a small group of foreign reporters a tour of the tunnel that had been uncovered beneath the European Hospital in Khan Younis, which Defrin said was a major command and control compound for Hamas.

Mohammad Sinwar was responsible for the deaths of countless civilians. He was eliminated in an IDF & ISA strike on May 13.

His body was found beneath the European hospital in Khan Yunis—more proof of how Sinwar, and Hamas, hide behind their civilians and purposely embed… pic.twitter.com/HVSVkCgo1x — Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) June 8, 2025

“This is another example of the cynical use by Hamas, using civilians as human shields, using civilian infrastructure, hospitals again and again,” said Defrin.

“We found underneath the hospital, right under the emergency room, a compound of a few rooms. In one of them we found, we killed Mohammed Sinwar,” he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Sinwar’s death last month but Defrin said they now had his DNA which proved beyond doubt it was him.

Hamas has not commented on reports of the death of either Sinwar or Shabana.

Sinwar was the younger brother of Yahya Sinwar, the Palestinian militant group’s deceased leader and mastermind of the October 2023 attack on Israel that killed 1200 people according to Israeli tallies, and which triggered the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip.

Shabana was one of Hamas’ most senior and battle-hardened commanders in the south of the enclave.

He played a central role in constructing the network of tunnels under the southern city of Rafah, which were used for ambushes and cross-border raids.

The drive to Khan Younis in Israeli military vehicles showed widespread devastation, with countless buildings lying in ruins and piles of rubble collected at the roadside.

The Israeli military has raided or besieged numerous hospitals during the war, alleging that Hamas uses them to conceal fighters and orchestrate operations – a charge Hamas has repeatedly denied.

While Israel has presented evidence in certain cases, some of its assertions remain unverified.

Defrin said the army had carefully planned the strike near the European Hospital in order not to damage it.

A large trench dug in front of the emergency room entrance led down to a hole in the claustrophobic concrete tunnel, that was used as a hideaway by Hamas fighters, the army said.

During the search of the site, Israeli forces recovered weapon stockpiles, ammunition, cash and documents that are now being reviewed for intelligence value.

“We will dismantle Hamas because we cannot live with this terror organisation right in our backyard, right across our border,” Defrin said.

More than 54,000 Palestinians have died during the ongoing Israeli assault, according to Gaza health authorities. The U.N. has warned that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine.

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Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg (far left and far right) on the Gaza-bound aid boat on June 1. PHOTOS: REUTERS

– Israel on June 8 ordered the military to stop a humanitarian ship carrying activists, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, breaking the blockade of the war-ravaged Gaza Strip.

“I have instructed the military to prevent the Madleen flotilla from reaching Gaza,” Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.

“Turn back because you will not reach Gaza,” Mr Katz added, calling the activists “Hamas propaganda mouthpieces”.

The Madleen, operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, left Italy on June 1 with the stated aim of delivering humanitarian aid and challenging the Israeli blockade on the Palestinian territory, which has been in place for years even before the Israel-Hamas war since October 2023.

Organisers said on June 7 that they had reached Egyptian waters and were nearing Gaza, where the war between Israel and Hamas has entered its 21st month.

“We are not armed. There is only humanitarian aid,” European Parliament member Rima Hassan told AFP from the boat, vowing to “stay mobilised until the last minute”.

The coalition said in a statement on X it expected “interception and an attack from Israel at any moment”, calling for protection from the governments of those on board, who are nationals of Germany, France, Brazil, Turkey, Sweden, Spain and the Netherlands.

Mr Katz said that “Israel will not allow anyone to break the naval blockade of Gaza, which is aimed at preventing weapons from reaching Hamas – a murderous terrorist group holding our hostages and committing war crimes.”

In Gaza, where the United Nations has repeatedly warned of famine, the civil defence agency said Israeli attacks killed at least 10 people on June 8, including five civilians hit by gunfire near an aid distribution centre.

‘Risked their lives’ for food

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal and witnesses said the civilians had been heading to a site west of Rafah, in southern Gaza, run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

The GHF has come under criticism from humanitarian agencies and the United Nations refuses to work with it, citing concerns over its practices and neutrality.

Witness Abdallah Nour al-Din told AFP that “people started gathering in the Al-Alam area of Rafah” in the early morning.

People transport relief supplies on a cart from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in the central Gaza Strip on June 8. PHOTO: AFP

“After about an hour and a half, hundreds moved toward the site and the army opened fire,” he said.

The Israeli military said it fired on people who “continued advancing in a way that endangered the soldiers” despite warnings.

The GHF said in a statement there had been no incidents “at any of our three sites” on June 8.

It said it had distributed more than a million meals, including more than 600,000 through a trial of “direct to community distribution” via “community leaders”.

Outside Nasser Hospital, where the emergency workers brought the casualties, AFPTV footage showed mourners crying over blood-stained body bags.

“I can’t see you like this,” said Ms Lin al-Daghma by her father’s body.

She spoke of the struggle to access food aid after more than two months of a total Israeli blockade of Gaza, despite a recent easing.

Dozens of people have been killed near GHF distribution points since late May, according to the civil defence agency.

At a charity kitchen in Gaza City, displaced Palestinian Umm Ghassan told AFP she had been unable to collect aid from a GHF site “because there were so many people, and there was a lot of shooting. I was afraid to go in, but there were people who risked their lives for their children and families”.

Sinwar

Also on June 8, the Israeli military said it had located and identified the body of Mohammed Sinwar, presumed Hamas leader in Gaza, in an “underground tunnel route beneath the European Hospital in Khan Younis”, in southern Gaza.

A room with blood stains inside a tunnel underneath the European Hospital in Khan Younis, where Israeli military said the body of Hamas Gaza chief Mohammed Sinwar was found. PHOTO: REUTERS

The military, which until June 8 had not confirmed his death, said Israeli forces killed Sinwar on May 13.

Sinwar was the younger brother of slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, accused by Israel of masterminding the 2023 attack that triggered the war.

The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says at least 54,880 people, the majority civilians, have been killed in the territory since the start of the war. The UN considers these figures reliable.

After the deaths of several Hamas leaders, Mohammed Sinwar was thought to be at the heart of decisions on indirect negotiations with Israel.

The military said that alongside Sinwar’s body, forces had found “additional intelligence” at the Khan Younis site “underneath the hospital, right under the emergency room”.

Experts said he likely took over as the head of Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, after its leader Mohammed Deif was killed by Israel.

The Palestinian group has remained tight-lipped over the names of its top ranks. AFP

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New Delhi: Israel has confirmed the death of Hamas chief Mohammed Sinwar, the elusive younger brother of Yahya Sinwar. His body was found under the rubble of a tunnel beneath Gaza’s European Hospital in Khan Younis two weeks after a deadly airstrike targeted the site.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on June 8 that the body was positively identified after forensic verification.

Mohammed Sinwar was believed to be one of Hamas’s last key surviving field leaders, who was operating in coordination with two other feared such persons as his brother Yahya Sinwar and the group’s military mastermind Mohammad Deif. Both were also declared killed by Israel in recent operations.

The May 13 strike that killed Mohammed Sinwar had targeted what the IDF described as an underground “command-and-control centre” beneath the hospital.

The attack followed a major development: Hamas had released Israeli-American soldier Edan Alexander just one day earlier. Now, speculation is growing that Sinwar’s presence at the hospital may have been connected to internal strategic shifts within Hamas.

The airstrike itself was devastating. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 28 Palestinians were killed and more than 50 wounded. But the strategic prize for Israel came only later, after days of uncertainty, when Sinwar’s body was recovered and confirmed.

On the 600th day of the war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the floor at the Knesset and did not hold back. In a speech, he declared, “We changed the face of the Middle East. We entered Gaza with force. We eliminated tens of thousands of terrorists. And we eliminated Mohammad Deif, Ismail Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar and now, Mohammed Sinwar.”

This moment marks a symbolic victory for Israel’s ongoing operation to decapitate Hamas’s top command.

Yahya Sinwar, once the face of Hamas’s political strategy, was confirmed killed in October during a southern Gaza raid.

Mohammad Deif, the ghost-like military chief of Hamas’s Qassam Brigades, was reportedly taken out in a precision strike, though Hamas has yet to acknowledge his death officially.

With all three figures now believed dead, military analysts say Hamas is facing its most serious leadership vacuum since its rise in Gaza.

Israeli officials caution that the organisation still has deep reserves, both in terms of manpower and ideology.

Mohammed Sinwar’s legacy was one of secrecy, tunnels and brutal tactics. His end, like his rise, happened underground. And in Gaza, where shadows still move beneath crumbling streets, the war is far from over.

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Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what’s in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways

The Israeli military on Sunday said it had located the remains of Hamas military leader Mohammed al-Sinwar in an underground tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip.

Al-Sinwar, the brother of former Hamas leader Yehya al-Sinwar who was also killed by Israel, was killed along with the commander of the Rafah Brigade, Mohammed Sabaneh, in an attack on May 13, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a post on its Telegram channel.

The two had been hiding in an underground command and control centre belonging to the Palestinian Islamist Hamas group, it said. The Islamist group has not confirmed Mohammed al-Sinwar’s death.

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The Israeli military said their remains, along with various personal items, were found beneath the European Hospital in Khan Younis. Israel has repeatedly said that Hamas uses civilian facilities like hospitals and schools, as cover for its operations – which Hamas denies.

“Additional bodies of terrorists were located during the operation, their identities are currently under examination,” the statement added.

The IDF showed the tunnel to several journalists on Sunday, including a dpa photojournalist and also posted a video of soldiers dragging a corpse wrapped in white out of the tunnel on its Telegram channel. The military said it was very far underground, in the immediate vicinity of the clinic.

The dpa photographer described a strong smell of decay in the air, and said the floor was covered in worms. In one room, which had apparently been used as a dormitory, there were many blankets on the floor. He said no technical equipment or similar items were visible.

Israeli soldiers come out of a tunnel found at the European Hospital in Khan Yunis, where the military believes Hamas military chief Muhammad Sinwar was killed last month. Ilia Yefimovich/dpa