Mohammed Sinwar, Hamas’s Gaza-based chief, was eliminated in a recent airstrike, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed Saturday afternoon.
Mohammed Sinwar had been elevated to the position of Hamas’s overall ‘military’ chief after his elder brother, Yahya Sinwar, was taken out by the IDF in October 2024.
In an intelligence-backed precision strike, Israeli fighter jets dropped some 40 bunker buster bombs on a Hamas underground bunker network in the southern Gaza terror stronghold of Khan Younis. Southern Gaza-based Rafah Brigade commander Muhammad Shabana was also killed in the strike, the IDF revealed.
The operation was conducted jointly with the Israel Security Agency (ISA), also known as the Shin Bet, the IDF disclosed.
The military revealed the details of Mohammad Sinwar’s elimination:
The IDF, in cooperation with the ISA, conducted a targeted operation against Hamas terrorists who were present in a command and control compound established inside underground infrastructure beneath the European Hospital in Khan Yunis.The underground infrastructure was extensive and complex and targeting it was made possible through the use of advanced technologies, in close cooperation with the Intelligence Directorate and the ISA, and through precise and focused planning by the Southern Command and the IAF. The infrastructure was located beneath the hospital grounds and served as a Hamas combat control center.The strike was carried out through synchronized action by IAF aircraft, deploying precision-guided munitions simultaneously, targeting the underground compound where key Hamas terrorists – among them Mohammad Sinwar and Mohammad Sabaneh – had recently been present. The strike did not harm the hospital’s functionality.Prior to and during the strike, measures were taken to minimize the risk of civilian harm, including the use of precision munitions, aerial observation, and additional intelligence.
Mohammed was targeted on a ‘rare’ occasion when he and other top Hamas leaders were not surrounded by hostages. “Prior to the strike, Israeli intelligence had only medium confidence that Sinwar was inside the tunnel,” Israeli news website Ynetnews reported Saturday. “The decision to carry out the attack was based on the tunnel’s strategic value, the absence of hostages in the area, and the limited expected harm to civilians.”
Israeli fighter jets, on Friday evening, destroyed a Syrian missile depot near the port city of Latakia. “The IDF struck weapons depots in the Latakia area of Syria, containing surface-to-surface missiles, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Syrian air defense systems were also targeted in the strike. “A short while ago, the IDF struck weapon storage facilities containing coastal missiles that posed a threat to international and Israeli maritime freedom of navigation, in the Lattakia area of Syria,” the military said in a press release Friday. “In addition, components of surface-to-air missiles were struck in the area of Lattakia.”
The airstrike was the latest in a series of aerial operations conducted by the Israeli armed forces with the objective of destroying military capabilities left behind by the Bashar al-Assad regime following its collapse last December. Jerusalem does not want the Assad regime’s advanced weaponry, largely supplied by Russia and Iran, to fall into the hands of Syria’s ruling Islamist regime or other terrorist outfits.
With Hamas still refusing to accept the least ceasefire proposal presented earlier this week by President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, IDF’s Operation Gideon’s Chariots entered its 25th day.
“IDF troops, directed by IDF and ISA [Shin Bet security agency] intelligence, continue operational activity against terrorist organizations throughout the Gaza Strip,” the military informed Saturday. “The troops eliminated terrorists, dismantled weapons, terrorist infrastructure, and underground infrastructure sites.”
Israeli fighter jets were hitting Hamas terror targets all across Gaza. “Over the past day, the IAF struck dozens of terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip, including terrorists, military sites from which terrorists were operating, observation and sniper posts that posed a threat to the troops in the area, as well as additional terrorist infrastructure,” the press statement added.
In another win for the IDF, an Israeli strike on Saturday eliminated one of Hezbollah’s rocket commanders in southern Lebanon. “The IDF struck and eliminated the terrorist Mohammad Ali Jamoul, the Shaqif region commander of Hezbollah’s rocket array in the area of Deir al-Zahrani in southern Lebanon,” the military said.
“Throughout the war, the terrorist advanced numerous projectile attacks toward Israeli civilians and IDF troops, and was involved recently in efforts to reestablish Hezbollah’s terrorist infrastructure in the area,” the IDF noted. “Mohammad Ali Jamoul’s activities constituted a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”
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