It may take days, or even weeks, before the death of Muhammad Sinwar can be confirmed, but Israeli defence officials believe that everyone who was present in what they say was an underground compound targeted in Tuesday night’s air strikes beneath the Khan Younis European Hospital is dead. “If Sinwar was there he was killed,” said an Israeli source.
The air strikes were approved by prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, defence minister Yisrael Katz and Israel Defense Forces chief-of staff Lieut Gen Eyal Zamir in “real time” in response to an “immediate opportunity that had emerged”, once it was established that there were no hostages in the vicinity, defence officials said. The urgency of the strike left no time to inform the United States in advance despite the “sensitivity” stemming from President Donald Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia.
Muhammad Sinwar, the 49-year-old younger brother of Yahya Sinwar – the Hamas leader killed by Israel in October – is considered one of the architects of the October 7th, 2023, attack on southern Israel. He is the senior figure in Hamas’s military wing and had, in the months following his brother’s assassination, in effect taken over Hamas’s leadership, Israeli security officials believe.
In the past he served as the commander of Hamas’s Khan Younis brigade and masterminded the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier seized on the Gaza border in 2006, who was subsequently released for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, including Yahya Sinwar.
Muhammad Sinwar is considered a charismatic leader but also has a reputation for brutality and ruthlessness, and was widely feared across Gaza. He has survived numerous Israeli attempts on his life, and Israel offered a $300,000 reward for information leading to his whereabouts. He is rarely seen in public in recent years, even avoiding his father’s funeral in 2022.
If Sinwar’s death is confirmed it means that only a handful of senior officials in Hamas’s military wing in Gaza remain alive. However, Hamas still exists as an organisation, and its radical Islamist ideology, based on the teachings of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, has deep roots among the Gazan population.
Israel considers Muhammad Sinwar the chief obstacle to a new ceasefire and hostage-release deal, taking as he did a more hardline position than the Hamas leadership in exile and his subordinates in Gaza.
There was much speculation on Wednesday that Sinwar’s possible death might makes it easier for Hamas negotiators to show increased flexibility, facilitating a new ceasefire deal, as proximity negotiations resumed in Doha after months of deadlock, with Trump making it clear his patience is running out. Significant progress in the talks, combined with US pressure on Israel, could also lead to a delay or cancelling of Israel’s planned military escalation aimed at conquering the entire Gaza Strip.
