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ISRAEL has eliminated defacto Hamas Gaza chief Mohammad Sinwar, also known as “The Shadow”, according to Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Israeli Prime Minister said on Wednesday that one of the terror group’s most wanted figures and younger brother of infamous Yahya Sinwar had been killed.
Netanyahu told parliament while reading a list of Hamas leaders killed in Israeli blitzes: “We eliminated Mohammad Sinwar.”
It comes after reports that the chief, who was also one of the October 7 masterminds, had likely been killed in an Israeli airstrike on May 13.
Israel appears to have successfully eliminated Sinwar Jr by bombing what it said was Hamas’ command centre under the European Hospital in the southern Gaza Strip.
The IDF is believed to have used bunker-busting bombs to target the underground complex.
Hamas said at least 40 people had been injured in the attack.
It reportedly targeted the exits of the subterranean compound with the aim of preventing the escape of any survivors.
Defence Minister Israel Katz reportedly revealed earlier this month that the body of Mohammad Sinwar had been discovered in a tunnel in Khan Younis.
Sinwar took command from his older brother Yahya Sinwar, the main architect of the October 7 attacks, after the boss was killed by the IDF in October 2024.
Military analyst and ex-army officer Colonel Richard Kemp said that the development was “very significant” in Israel’s war against Hamas.
He said that the chief had been “the leader of Hamas in Gaza since his brother was killed by the IDF last year”.
While speaking to parliament, Netanyahu said: “We eliminated tens of thousands of terrorists, Mohammad Deif, Hassan Nasrallah, Yahya Sinwar, Mohammad Sinwar, and seized the Rafah and Morag crossings.
“In the last two days, we’ve been executing a dramatic plan toward the complete defeat of Hamas.
He added: “We’re taking control of their food distribution and money machine. This is what destroys their governing capabilities.
“That’s what we promised.”
According to the Wall Street Journal, Israeli minister Israel Katz told a closed-door parliamentary meeting on May 18 that Sinwar was dead “beyond all indications”.
Now that the terror leader’s death has been confirmed, it leaves a power vacuum at the head of Hamas.
Experts fear a power struggle between its military and political wings.
Colonel Kemp said: “There is no obvious successor for Mohammad Sinwar now.
“So it may be that what we could see is some kind of a power struggle inside Hamas in Gaza, and perhaps even more significantly, a power struggle between the Hamas leadership in Gaza and the higher level leadership in Qatar.”
Who was Mohammad Sinwar?
Mohammad Sinwar was the leader of the Hamas terror group in Gaza that continues to hold Israeli hostages.
He was believed to be around 50 years old and has been operating largely behind the scenes, earning him the nickname “The Shadow”.
Like his older brother, he joined Hamas at an early age and was considered close to the head of the group’s armed wing, Mohammed Deif.
Mohammad was also believed to have been behind the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2006 which eventually led to the release of his brother in a prisoner swap.
He was named by political analysts as Hamas’s most senior commander in Gaza alongside Izz al-Din Haddad – and according to Israeli officials they have the final say in the ongoing hostage negotiations.
Sinwar took command of Hamas’ military wing after Mohammad Deif was killed last July and later took over the entire terror group after his brother was killed.
He was believed to have been behind the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2006 – which eventually led to the release of his brother in a prisoner swap.
He was also named by experts as Hamas’s most senior commander in Gaza alongside Izz al-Din Haddad.
According to Israeli officials, Izz al-Din Haddad and Sinwar hold the most influence when it comes to the negotiating the release of the hostages.
There are 58 remaining Israeli hostages being held by Hamas, around 21 of which are believed to still be alive.
The older Sinwar was dubbed Gaza’s Osama bin Laden after he carved out a bloody reputation for killing his enemies with his bare hands.
Colonel Kemp added that the killing of Sinwar could be seen as “possibly an optimistic sign”, but warned that “we shouldn’t see this as the end of Hamas yet”.
He concluded: “But the reality is that Hamas is now… very much on its back feet.
“Much of its leadership have been destroyed.”
It comes after harrowing footage showed the moment thousands of Gazans overran a US and Israel-backed aid site just hours after it opened.
Citizens desperate for food are said to have broken through the fences of the compound to reach the humanitarian aid, with shots reportedly fired.
The US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) said the sheer number of people seeking aid at its distribution site was so great, its team had to pull back so people could “take aid safely and dissipate”.
