Hamas’s Gaza chief Mohammed Sinwar has been “eliminated”, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said – but Israeli military sources say they are not yet able to confirm the death.
Sinwar was one of Israel’s most wanted and the younger brother of the militant group’s former leader Yahya Sinwar, who was killed in a gun battle with Israeli troops last year.
Speaking to parliament on Wednesday, Mr Netanyahu included Mohammed Sinwar in a list of Hamas leaders killed in Israeli strikes. Later, IDF sources aid they were not yet able to confirm the death.
He had been the target of an Israeli strike on a hospital in southern Gaza earlier this month and Mr Netanyahu
said on 21 May that it was was likely he had been killed.
Hamas has not yet confirmed the death of its leader.
“In the last two days we have been in a dramatic turn towards a complete defeat of Hamas,” the Israeli leader told the Knesset.
The development comes after one person was killed and 48 others injured after a crowd overwhelmed an aid hub in Gaza, according to local health officials.
Mr Netanyahu also spoke about how Israel was “taking control of food distribution”, a reference to a new aid distribution system that has been criticised and boycotted by humanitarian groups and the UN.
Analysis: Killing of Mohammed Sinwar still significant
While not as significant as the killing of Yahya Sinwar who masterminded the October 2023 attacks on Israel, the death of Mohammed Sinwar would still be notable, Sky News Middle East correspondent Alistair Bunkall says.
“He was a successor as a leader of Hamas, and the Israeli military has successfully eliminated most of Hamas’s senior military leadership, one by one,” he said.
“This would be another step towards decapitating his command structure.
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