Hamas further weakened after Israel kills presumed leader Mohammed Sinwar
He was a shadow among shadows, a hardliner among hardliners. By killing Mohammed Sinwar, Israel eliminated one of the enemies it had been hunting for two decades. Other senior officials were killed alongside him: Mohammed Shabana, commander of the Rafah Brigade, and Mahdi Qara, a leader in the South Khan Yunis Battalion.
"The terrorists were eliminated while operating in an underground command and control center, under the European Hospital in Khan Younis," the Israeli army said in a statement on Saturday, May 31. The army added that Mohammed Sinwar was "among the most senior and long-serving members of Hamas's military wing" and he "played a significant role in planning and executing the brutal October 7 massacre, serving as chief of operations at the time."
Yahya Sinwar, his elder brother, former leader of Hamas's armed wing in Gaza and appointed head of the entire organization in August 2024 after the death of senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh – killed in late July by an Israeli strike in Iran – had appointed his younger brother to take over from Mohammed Deif. Deif, the late leader of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's military wing, was also killed by the Israeli army in July 2024 in southern Gaza.
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