Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel had killed senior Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar.
Netanyahu made the announcement in a speech to the Knesset, the national legislature of Israel. The Israeli leader had previously only said that the terrorist leader had ‘apparently’ been killed.
Sinwar was one of Israel’s most wanted targets. He was the focus of an Israeli strike on a hospital in southern Gaza earlier this month, and Netanyahu said on May 21 that it was likely he had been killed. There was no confirmation from Hamas.
‘In the 600 days of revival, we changed the face of the Middle East,’ Netanyahu said according to the Times of Israel. ‘We removed the terrorists from our territories, entered the Gaza Strip, and killed [Mohammed] Deif, [Ismail] Haniyeh, Yahya [Sinwar], and Mohammed Sinwar.’
At least 16 people were killed, and 70 others were wounded in the May 13 strike, the outlet reported, citing the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
Sinwar’s body was found in a tunnel in Khan Yunis, along with the bodies of ten of his aides, the outlet reported.
Sinwar is the younger brother of the group’s former leader, Yahya Sinwar, who was killed in an Israeli strike in October. Mohammed Sinwar assumed leadership of Hamas in the Gaza Strip and its military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, after his brother’s death.
Mohammed Sinwar would have had the final word on any agreement to release the hostages and his death could further complicate U.S. and Arab efforts to broker a ceasefire. Israel has vowed to continue the war until all the hostages are returned and Hamas has been either defeated or disarmed and sent into exile.
Yahya Sinwar, meanwhile, planned and executed the October 7 massacre, according to the IDF and Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence agency.
‘[He] promoted his murderous ideology both before and during the war, and was responsible for the murder and abduction of many Israelis,’ the statement read.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
