Sinwar’s brother targeted as Netanyahu vows to finish job of destroying Hamas
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel targeted Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar in a strike on a hospital in southern Gaza on Tuesday evening, according to a senior Israeli official and two sources familiar with the matter.
He became the terrorist group’s de facto leader after the Israeli military killed his brother, Yahya Sinwar, last October.
The Israeli military struck what it said was a Hamas “command and control center” located in underground infrastructure beneath the hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.
Hamas rejected any Israeli claims about Sinwar, saying in a statement, “The Palestinian resistance alone, through its official platforms, is the authority authorized to confirm or deny what is published.”
On Tuesday night, the IDF said it intercepted two rockets fired from Gaza, in what appears to be the first launch from the territory in a month. A third rocket landed in an open area. The military wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack, saying they fired at Israeli cities near Gaza.
The targeting of Sinwar comes one day after Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. and many other countries, released Israeli American Edan Alexander in what was a goodwill gesture to the United States.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he’s days away from ordering an all-out escalation of Israel’s war against Hamas, and even the release of more hostages would only pause the campaign to destroy the Iran-backed terrorist group.
Speaking to wounded military veterans, the Israeli leader said his armed forces are preparing to “finish the job” after 19 months of fighting in Gaza, and ready to attack “with full might.”
“Finishing the job means defeating Hamas,” Netanyahu said, according to a transcript released by his office Tuesday.
“It could be that Hamas will say, ‘Pause, we want to release another 10 hostages.’ Okay, then. Bring them. We’ll take them,” the prime minister said. “But under no circumstances shall we stop the war. We could enter a truce of a known duration, but we are going all the way.”
Hamas still holds another 58 Israelis, almost all of whom were taken during the October 2023 attacks that triggered the war. Less than half are believed to be alive.
International efforts to end the conflict in Gaza were expected to be on the agenda of President Donald Trump’s meeting with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Israeli negotiators are in Qatar, the main Gaza mediator alongside Egypt, where Trump will travel to on Wednesday.
Hamas-led terrorists killed 1,200 people in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 52,800 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza, which does not say how many of the dead were combatants or civilians. Israel has lost more than 400 troops in combat.
Israel has said it’s willing to discuss a proposal by U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff for a deal under which Hamas would free 10 live hostages immediately, after which the sides would negotiate end-of-war terms.
But the Netanyahu government’s ultimate goal has always been for Hamas to lay down its weapons and be removed from Gaza. Hamas has in the past indicated it could cede some governance, but not disarm.