The Israeli military has said it has located and identified the body of Mohammed Sinwar, the military leader of Palestinian armed group Hamas in Gaza.
His body was discovered in a tunnel underneath the European Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Sunday.
It said it had verified the body’s identity through DNA checks – though Hamas has not publicly confirmed his death.
Sinwar, 49, was killed in an air strike on 13 May, which the Hamas-run civil defence agency said killed 28 people and injured dozens.
Sinwar’s body was found alongside that of Mohammad Sabaneh, the commander of Hamas’s Rafah Brigade, the IDF said.
It added that “several items belonging to Sinwar and Sabaneh were located, along with additional intelligence findings that were transferred for further investigation”.
The IDF said other bodies were found, which it was looking to identify.
It took a small group of foreign journalists into Gaza to Khan Younis to show them the tunnel on Sunday.
It also published video of the small entrance to the tunnel, accessible through freshly dug earth just in front of the European Hospital.
The footage shows a long, narrow underground corridor that leads to several rooms.
Inside some of them, piles of clothes and plastic chairs are visible, with a rifle leaning up against the wall. One video also shows a shrouded body being pulled from the tunnel by a rope.
IDF spokesperson Brig Gen Effie Defrin said that in one of the rooms they found the Sinwar’s body.
“This is another example of the cynical use by Hamas, using civilians as human shields, using civilian infrastructure, hospitals, again and again,” he said.
Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of using hospitals as hiding places for weapons and command centres, which the group denies.
The IDF has mounted sieges and attacks on hospitals in Gaza, or ordered their evacuation, leaving the territory’s health system on the verge of total collapse.
Such attacks have caused widespread international concern, as many hospitals and medical facilities have been put out of action – and the lives of patients and staff put at risk.
In a statement after an Israeli strike on al-Ahli hospital in April, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres expressed his deep alarm and declared that, under international humanitarian law, the “wounded and sick, medical personnel and medical facilities, including hospitals, must be respected and protected”.
Hospital staff in Gaza have also repeatedly denied that Hamas is using their facilities as a base.
The IDF will point to this latest footage as vindication of its claims and its military strategy.
As with so much in Gaza, however, full independent verification is not possible.
Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023 , in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
At least 54,880 people have been killed in Gaza since, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
The renewed fighting in Gaza comes following the collapse of a ceasefire and hostage exchange deal a few months ago.
Since then, Israel has restated its aim to destroy Hamas and recover the hostages, of whom 54 remain in captivity and 23 are thought to still be alive.
Mohammed Sinwar joined Hamas shortly after its founding in the late 1980s and became a member of the group’s military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades.
He rose through the ranks and by 2005 he was commander of the Khan Younis Brigade.
Sinwar was also reported to have been close to another of Hamas’s previous military chiefs, Mohammed Deif, and had been involved in the planning of the 7 October attack.
His brother and predecessor, Yahya Sinwar – believed to be the one of the masterminds behind the 7 October attack – was killed by Israeli troops last October.
By BBC News
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