By Jackson Richman
Contributing Writer
Hamas’ chief in Gaza, Mohammed Sinwar, has been killed, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Wednesday.
Speaking before the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, Netanyahu said that the Jewish state has “eliminated Ismail Haniyeh and Mohammed Deif, Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Sinwar.”
Haniyeh was Hamas’ political leader when he was taken out by Israel in Tehran in July 2024. Deif was the head of Hamas’ military wing when he was killed by Israel in Gaza that same month. Yahya Sinwar, who was the leader of Hamas, was the mastermind behind Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel. He was killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza in October 2024. He was succeeded by his brother, Mohammed.
Mohammed Sinwar, 49, was taken out by an Israeli strike in the Gaza city of Khan Younis, where he once commanded the town’s brigade.
“In the last two days, we’ve been executing a dramatic plan toward the complete defeat of Hamas,” Netanyahu said. “We’re taking control of their food distribution and money machine. This is what destroys their governing capabilities. That’s what we promised.”
Mohammed Sinwar’s history of terrorism includes being involved in the Hamas group that captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2006, who was held for five years before being released as part of an exchange that resulted in the release of more than 1,000 Palestinian terrorist prisoners. In the previous decade, he spent nine months behind bars in Ramallah before escaping in 2000.
Israel has eliminated most of Hamas’ leadership since launching its counteroffensive following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas, which killed 1,195 people and took 251 others hostage.
