The Israeli military announced on Sunday that it had located and identified the body of Mohammed Sinwar, a top Hamas commander, in a tunnel beneath the European Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.
According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Sinwar was killed in an airstrike on 13 May that reportedly killed 28 people and injured dozens more. The IDF said it verified his identity through DNA analysis, although Hamas has yet to confirm his death publicly.
The body of Mohammad Sabaneh, the commander of Hamas’s Rafah Brigade, was also found in the tunnel, along with personal items and other intelligence materials, the military added. Additional unidentified bodies were also recovered from the site and are under examination.
The IDF escorted a small group of foreign journalists to the location, showing them the tunnel entrance near the hospital and releasing footage of a narrow underground corridor leading to rooms filled with clothes, plastic chairs, and weapons. One video shows a shrouded body being pulled from the tunnel.
Brigadier General Effie Defrin, an IDF spokesperson, said the discovery highlighted Hamas’s repeated use of civilian infrastructure, such as hospitals, to shield its operations—an allegation Hamas denies.
Israel has long accused Hamas of operating from within hospitals, using them as command centres and storage sites for weapons. This has led to repeated Israeli attacks and evacuations of medical facilities in Gaza, severely weakening the territory’s already fragile healthcare system.
The international community has expressed deep concern over these strikes. After an Israeli attack on al-Ahli hospital in April, UN Secretary-General António Guterres reiterated that international humanitarian law demands protection for the wounded, medical staff, and healthcare facilities.
Hospital workers in Gaza continue to deny Israeli claims that Hamas uses medical infrastructure for military purposes.
The IDF says this latest discovery supports its assertions, though full independent verification remains difficult due to the restricted access to Gaza.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza began after the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israeli territory, which killed approximately 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. In response, Israel vowed to dismantle Hamas and secure the release of remaining hostages.
According to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, over 54,880 people have been killed in Gaza since the conflict began.
Mohammed Sinwar, 49, was a long-serving member of Hamas’s military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades. He joined the group shortly after its founding in the late 1980s and rose to lead the Khan Younis Brigade by 2005. He was believed to be a close associate of Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif and was allegedly involved in the planning of the 7 October attack.
His brother, Yahya Sinwar—considered one of the main architects of the October attack—was reportedly killed by Israeli forces in October 2023.
