Israel targeted Hamas leader Mohammad Sinwar in a strike on a hospital in southern Gaza on Tuesday, reports CNN, quoting a senior Israeli official and two sources familiar with the matter. Sinwar became the militant group’s de facto leader after the Israeli military killed his brother, Yahya Sinwar, last October.
According to the report, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said that it carried out a strike on the European hospital in Khan Younis, targeting “Hamas terrorists in a command and control center” in underground infrastructure beneath the hospital. The IDF did not identify the target of the strike.
According to Times Of Israel, the Palestinian media have reported four people being killed so far. However, they have not claimed Sinwar was killed in the strike.
News agency CNN, quoting Dr. Saleh Al Hams said that multiple airstrikes hit the yard of the hospital. Some people are buried under the rubble, he said, calling it a “catastrophe.”
The targeting of Sinwar comes after Hamas released the Israeli American Edan Alexander in what was a goodwill gesture to the United States. Reports suggest that the exchange was negotiated directly with the US President Donald Trump’s team, bypassing the Israeli government.
Sinwar was long viewed by Israeli officials as a hardliner within Hamas, especially resistant to any compromise over the release of hostages. According to the Jerusalem Post, Israel may have used a bunker-buster bomb in the Khan Younis strike aimed at penetrating deep underground to reach Sinwar.
