Mohammed Sinwar

Mohammed Ibrahim Hassan al-Sinwar (; 16 September 1975 – 13 May 2025) was a Palestinian militant who became the third Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, following the killing of his brother, Yahya Sinwar in October 2024. He also served as the seventh commander of the Al-Qassam Brigades since November 2024. He held both positions until he was killed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in May 2025.

Born in the Khan Yunis refugee camp, Sinwar spent several years in Israeli and Palestinian Authority jails in the 1990s and became the leader of Hamas's Khan Yunis Brigade in 2005. Israel attempted to assassinate him several times prior to killing him in May 2025.

Early life Mohammed Ibrahim Hassan Sinwar was born in the Khan Yunis refugee camp on 16 September 1975. Sinwar's family fled from Al-Majdal Asqalan (Ashkelon) during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. His rank in the group rose over time, and he eventually became one of its joint chief of staffs, where he became close to Hamas commanders such as Mohammed Deif and Sa'ad al-Arabid—the latter was assassinated in 2003. He also became close to deputy Hamas commander Marwan Issa.

Sinwar partook in the First Intifada. Israel arrested him in 1991 and accused him of "terrorism", but released him nine months later from the Ktzi'ot Prison. In 1992, he was allegedly involved in an attempt to capture and kill an Israeli soldier (Alon Karavani), an operation led by Deif.

During the Second Intifada, Sinwar planned attacks against Israeli targets and oversaw rocket attacks. In 2005, he became the commander of Hamas's Khan Yunis Brigade He operated alongside senior commanders such as , and accumulated experience and influence because he was able to stay under the radar. He was a part of the cell that conducted the abduction, being a key architect of the raid.

Sinwar reportedly convinced the al-Qaeda-aligned Ansar Bait al-Maqdis to join the Islamic State, which established the group's Sinai Province. Hamas provided the group with weapons and training in exchange for the group ensuring that arms shipments reached Gaza. He further gained influence after Raed al Atar and , who were candidates to replace Deif, were killed during the 2014 Gaza war. He was reportedly a close confidant of his brother Yahya Sinwar during the war. Israeli security officials said that cruelty was part of Sinwar's nature, and that he executed collaborators with Israel with his own hands.

Shadow Unit Around three months after the abduction of Gilad Shalit in 2006, Sinwar oversaw the establishment of Hamas's "Shadow Unit" with approval from Deif. It was an elite, covert force that guarded valuable captives, including Shalit. Sinwar personally selected militants from Khan Yunis to command the unit, including field commanders Rahman al-Mubasher, Khaled Abu Bakra, and Mohammed Dawoud, who were all killed by Israel in 2013 and 2021. The unit was kept secret until Hamas released footage of Shalit in captivity in 2016. Later that year, he became the group's de facto overall leader in Gaza after his older brother, Yahya Sinwar, was killed by Israeli soldiers in October. Although Hamas officials in Doha established a temporary collective leadership committee, militants in Gaza decided to function independently under Sinwar.

Failed assassination attempts By May 2021, Sinwar had been subject to at least six assassination attempts by Israel within a span of 20 years. Israel believed that he had died until it discovered evidence of his survival nine years later. Sinwar had presumably been hiding in the tunnels underneath the Gaza Strip.

In 2019, Sinwar and other Hamas commanders, including Rafa Salama, were reportedly targeted in a plot where Israeli commandos would poison and kidnap them from a beach in Khan Yunis. The Al-Qassam Brigades rejected the report as "baseless". On 16 May that year, Israel bombed Sinwar's home, as well as his brother's, Yahya Sinwar, in Khan Yunis, but both were apparently unoccupied.

Assassination

On 13 May 2025, the IDF and Shin Bet said that Sinwar had been targeted in an Israeli airstrike on a bunker under the Gaza European Hospital in Khan Yunis. The strike killed 26 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, but Sinwar's fate was initially unclear. According to the Saudi channel Al-Hadath, the bodies of Sinwar and Muhammad Shabana were recovered from the tunnel. Israeli defense minister Israel Katz said that "according to all the indications Muhammad Sinwar was eliminated." Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said that Hamas members in the Gaza Strip had told him that Sinwar was still alive, while the armed wing of Hamas did not confirm nor deny his death. On 28 May 2025, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Sinwar had been killed. On 31 May 2025, the IDF and Shin Bet confirmed that Sinwar had been killed. On 8 June 2025, the IDF said they found Sinwar's body in an "underground passageway beneath the European Hospital" in Khan Yunis. Hamas confirmed Sinwar's death on 30 August 2025, describing him as a "martyr" alongside a publicity photo. This was later affirmed in a speech by Abu Obeida, the spokesperson for the Qassam Brigades, which serves as the armed wing of Hamas.