Israel targeted Mohammed Sinwar, a top Hamas commander and the brother of former terror chief Yahya Sinwar, in an airstrike in southern Gaza, the Israeli media reported Tuesday evening.
Mohammed had reportedly been elevated to the position of Hamas’ military chief following the elimination of his notorious brother in an Israeli strike seven months ago. “The target of the strike was Mohammed Sinwar, the brother of the dead Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar,” the Israel Hayom newspaper reported. “Muhammed Sinwar has effectively taken over his dead brother’s role as the leader of the Hamas military wing for the past several month,” the Israel daily noted.
While there was no official confirmation, some military officials suggested that the operation may have succeeded in taking out the intended target. “It is currently unknown if the strike was successful, but Israeli defense officials estimate that it was,” the Israeli news website Arutz Sheva disclosed.
Mohammed was hiding in a terror tunnel beneath a hospital-turned-terror base at the time of the strike.
Without naming him, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in a press release admitted carrying out “a precise struck on Hamas terrorists in a command and control center located in an underground terrorist infrastructure site beneath the European hospital in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip.”
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The Israeli news website Ynetnews reported the details of the operation:
The IDF and Shin Bet intelligence agency said Tuesday that they carried out a precision strike on Hamas operatives inside an underground command center beneath the European Hospital in Khan Younis, located in the southern Gaza Strip.In a joint statement, authorities said the operation targeted a Hamas command-and-control hub embedded in what they described as “terrorist infrastructure” under the hospital.Israeli officials said that the operation aimed to eliminate Mohammed Sinwar, head of Hamas’ military wing and brother of the group’s former leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, who was eliminated by Israeli forces last October. His fate remains unclear.Footage of the strike was released following the operation, which Israeli officials described as a major action in their ongoing campaign against Hamas.
The Israeli security service believe that Mohammed was on his way to replacing his brother Yahya as the overall chief of Hamas terror group. “Security officials have long believed that Mohammed Sinwar replaced his brother, Yahya Sinwar, as the new Hamas leader after his assassination in October,” the Jerusalem Post observed.
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