More than three months after an Israeli strike, Hamas officially acknowledged this morning that Mohammed Sinwar, a senior operative in the group and the brother of Hamas Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar, was killed.
The confirmation was issued through a statement that included an image of Mohammed Sinwar together with other top Hamas figures who had been killed during the war, labeled with the word “shaheeds.”
Sinwar was killed in mid-May in a combined operation carried out by the IDF and the Shin Bet that struck a subterranean Hamas command and control hub located beneath the European Hospital in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip.
His brother, Yahya Sinwar, had been killed seven months earlier.
Although the IDF publicly declared Mohammed Sinwar’s death at the end of May, Hamas had refrained from commenting until now and provided no further information beyond the photo it released.
Alongside this announcement, Hamas also distributed video footage of Mohammed Deif, its former military chief, who was killed in July of the previous year.
At the same time, Israeli officials said they believe Abu Ubaida, the spokesman for Hamas’s military wing, was killed Saturday night in an airstrike in Gaza City.
A senior Israeli official commented, “If he was there, there’s no chance he survived this elimination attempt.” The official explained that intelligence on his whereabouts was obtained Friday night, with a strike opportunity opening at 5:30 p.m. Saturday. “If there were hostages in the area, the strike would not have taken place,” the official added.
Only a day before, Abu Ubaida had warned that Israeli military efforts to retake Gaza City would jeopardize hostages. He declared that both the IDF and the Israeli government would be accountable for what happened to them, threatening that “every hostage killed in strikes will be announced by name and with their picture.”
{Matzav.com Israel}
