The body is reported to have been identified in southern Gaza, where it was found together with ten other dead people described as Sinwar's employees.
There is no official confirmation, but according to all indications, Mohammed Sinwar has been eliminated, says Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz according to the news site Ynet.
Sinwar, younger brother of the long-time Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar who was killed by Israel last year, was reportedly the target of Israeli attacks on Khan Yunis in southern Gaza earlier in the week.
Planned on October 7
Mohammed Sinwar was one of five people who knew about and planned Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, according to Magnus Ranstorp who has researched Hamas. It was also he who negotiated the release of his brother Yahya and a thousand other Palestinians from Israeli captivity in exchange for an Israeli soldier in 2011.
He was deeply involved in the military branch and has been an important person, says Ranstorp.
Although Israel has killed many high-ranking Hamas leaders, it is estimated that there are others left in Gaza who can take over the leadership.
There are several that they have not managed to find yet, says Ranstorp.
Another Brother Killed
Around 30 people were killed and 70 injured when Israel dropped what is believed to have been a bunker bomb – an aerial bomb that digs deep into the ground before detonating – over the European Hospital in Khan Yunis on Tuesday. Israel is said to have suspected that Sinwar was in a tunnel under the hospital, which was knocked out of operation as a result of the attack.
Mohammed Sinwar is estimated to have become the military leader of Hamas after his brother's death in Rafah in October 2024. Sinwar's death may affect the negotiations on a ceasefire, said a high-ranking Israeli official to the newspaper The Jerusalem Post this week:
If he is out of the picture, it should simplify the efforts to reach an agreement.
On Sunday, Palestinian media reported that another brother, Zakaria Sinwar, was killed in an Israeli attack on Nuseirat in central Gaza on Saturday evening.
