Israel says it has discovered physique of Hamas navy chief Mohammed Sinwar

The Israeli navy has stated it has positioned and recognized the physique of Mohammed Sinwar, the navy chief of Palestinian armed group Hamas in Gaza.

His physique was found in a tunnel beneath the European Hospital within the southern metropolis of Khan Younis, the Israel Protection Forces (IDF) stated on Sunday.

It stated it had verified the physique’s id by way of DNA checks – although Hamas has not publicly confirmed his dying.

Sinwar, 49, was killed in an air strike on 13 Might, which the Hamas-run civil defence company stated killed 28 individuals and injured dozens.

Sinwar’s physique was discovered alongside that of Mohammad Sabaneh, the commander of Hamas’s Rafah Brigade, the IDF stated.

It added that “a number of objects belonging to Sinwar and Sabaneh had been positioned, together with extra intelligence findings that had been transferred for additional investigation”.

The IDF stated different our bodies had been discovered, which it was seeking to determine.

On Sunday, the IDF took a small group of international journalists into Gaza to Khan Younis to point out them the tunnel.

It additionally revealed video of the doorway to the tunnel, which is simply in entrance of the European Hospital. The footage exhibits an extended, slim underground hall that results in a number of rooms.

IDF spokesperson Brig Gen Effie Defrin stated that in one of many rooms they discovered the Sinwar’s physique.

“That is one other instance of the cynical use by Hamas, utilizing civilians as human shields, utilizing civilian infrastructure, hospitals, many times,” he stated.

Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of utilizing hospitals as hiding locations for weapons and command centres, which the group denies.

The IDF has mounted sieges and assaults on hospitals in Gaza, or ordered their evacuation, leaving the territory’s well being system on the verge of whole collapse.

Such assaults have brought about widespread worldwide concern, as many hospitals and medical services have been put out of motion – and the lives of sufferers and workers put in danger.

In a press release after an Israeli strike on al-Ahli hospital in April, UN Secretary Normal Antonio Guterres expressed his deep alarm and declared that, below worldwide humanitarian legislation, the “wounded and sick, medical personnel and medical services, together with hospitals, have to be revered and guarded”.

Hospital workers in Gaza have additionally repeatedly denied that Hamas is utilizing their services as a base.

The IDF will level to this newest footage as vindication of its claims and its navy technique.

As with a lot in Gaza, nonetheless, full impartial verification will not be doable.

Israel launched a navy marketing campaign in Gaza in response to the unprecedented cross-border assault on 7 October 2023 , through which about 1,200 individuals had been killed and 251 others had been taken hostage.

At the least 54,880 individuals have been killed in Gaza since, based on the territory’s Hamas-run well being ministry.

The renewed preventing in Gaza comes following the collapse of a ceasefire and hostage trade deal a couple of months in the past.

Since then, Israel has restated its goal to destroy Hamas and get better the hostages, of whom 54 stay in captivity and 23 are thought to nonetheless be alive.

Mohammed Sinwar joined Hamas shortly after its founding within the late Eighties and have become a member of the group’s navy wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades.

He rose by way of the ranks and by 2005 he was commander of the Khan Younis Brigade.

Sinwar was additionally reported to have been shut to a different of Hamas’s earlier navy chiefs, Mohammed Deif, and had been concerned within the planning of the 7 October assault.

His brother and predecessor, Yahya Sinwar – believed to be the one of many masterminds behind the 7 October assault – was killed by Israeli troops final October.