Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed that Mohammed Sinwar, a senior commander in Hamas’ armed wing, has been killed.
While there has been no confirmation from Hamas, the Israeli Prime Minister’s statement suggests Sinwar was killed in a recent strike in the Gaza Strip.
Mohammed Sinwar is the brother of Yahya Sinwar, a Hamas leader who Israel says helped plan the October 7, 2023, attack that triggered the ongoing conflict. Yahya Sinwar was killed by Israeli forces in October 2024.
Israeli strikes have significantly weakened Hamas’ leadership during the 19-month war. Mohammed Sinwar was among the last known senior figures still active in Gaza. Despite these losses, Hamas continues to govern in areas of Gaza not under Israeli control, holds numerous hostages, and launches occasional attacks on Israeli forces.
As head of Hamas’ armed wing, Mohammed Sinwar would have been central to any hostage release agreement. His death could complicate ongoing efforts by the U.S. and Arab nations to negotiate a ceasefire. Israel has stated it will continue the war until all hostages are freed and Hamas is defeated, disarmed, or exiled.
Netanyahu mentioned the killing of Sinwar in a speech before parliament in which he listed the names of other top Hamas leaders killed during the war. “We have killed ten of thousands of terrorists. We killed (Mohammed) Deif, (Ismail) Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Sinwar,” he said.
Netanyahu did not elaborate. Israeli media had reported that the younger Sinwar was the target of a May 13 strike on what the military said was a Hamas command center beneath the European Hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, the Sinwars’ hometown. The military declined to comment on whether Sinwar had been targeted or killed.
At least six people were killed in the strike and 40 wounded, Gaza’s Health Ministry said at the time.
Mohammed Sinwar was born in 1975 in the urban Khan Younis refugee camp. His family was among hundreds of thousands of Palestinians driven from what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding its creation. The refugees and their descendants today make up the majority of Gaza’s population.
Like his older brother, Yahya, the younger Sinwar joined Hamas after it was founded in the late 1980s as the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. He became a member of the group’s military wing, known as the Qassam Brigades.
He rose through the ranks to become a member of its so-called joint chiefs of staff, bringing him close to its longtime commander, Deif, who was killed in a strike last year.
Mohammed Sinwar was one of the planners of a 2006 cross-border attack on an Israeli army post. In that attack, militants captured Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit, who was held for five years and later exchanged for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, including Yahya Sinwar.
In an interview with Qatar’s Al Jazeera TV aired three years ago, Mohammed Sinwar said that when Hamas threatens Israel, “we know how to specify the location that hurts the occupation and how to press them.”
Hamas has said that Mohammed Sinwar was targeted by Israel on several occasions and was briefly believed to have been killed in 2014. He is said to have been one of a handful of top commanders who knew about the Oct. 7 attack in advance.
