Mohammed Sinwar

Overview

Mohammed Sinwar was a commander and later a leader of Hamas, a terrorist organization, in Gaza. The younger brother of Yahya Sinwar, he spent more than three decades in the group’s armed structure. His career encompassed the Khan Yunis Brigade, the 2006 kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, planning for the October 7 attacks, and command during the Gaza war. After Israeli forces killed Yahya in October 2024, Mohammed became Hamas’s leading figure in Gaza. An Israeli strike killed him on May 13, 2025, in a command tunnel beneath the European Hospital in Khan Yunis.

Sinwar was known within Hamas as “Shadow” because he closely guarded his movements and contacts. That caution helped him survive repeated attempts on his life, but it did not prevent the May 2025 strike. A meeting with other senior commanders breached Hamas’s wartime security protocols and gave Israel an opportunity to hit several leaders together.

Early life

Sinwar was born on September 16, 1975, in the Khan Yunis refugee camp. He grew up under the ideological influence of Abd al-Aziz al-Rantisi, a co-founder of Hamas. His older brother Yahya became a senior figure in the same organization. Mohammed also formed a lasting friendship in Khan Yunis with Mohammed Deif, who later led Hamas’s armed wing.

In 1991, Mohammed joined the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed wing. The Israel Defense Forces arrested him that year on suspicion of terrorist activity, and he spent nine months in Israeli prison. He was later detained by security forces in Gaza for several years and escaped custody. These early experiences preceded his close working relationships with Deif and other field commanders.

Career

Sinwar’s standing increased after Hamas commander Sa’ad Al-Arabid was killed in an Israeli helicopter strike in April 2003. In 2005, Sinwar became commander of Hamas’s Khan Yunis Brigade. Hamas publicly identified him in that position, departing from its practice of concealing commanders’ identities. He continued to build authority through operational relationships with Deif and commanders serving beneath him. Rafaa Salameh, another Khan Yunis Brigade commander, reported to Sinwar.

Sinwar helped orchestrate Hamas’s 2006 kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. He belonged to the secret Hamas cell that held Shalit in Gaza for five years. The 2011 exchange that freed Shalit also secured Yahya Sinwar’s release from Israeli prison. Mohammed subsequently introduced his brother to Hamas figures and operations, helping Yahya consolidate power within the group. The kidnapping thus had consequences beyond the exchange itself: it strengthened the political position of the brother who would later lead Hamas in Gaza.

Sinwar’s position rose again after Raed al-Attar and Mahmoud Abu Shamaleh were killed during the 2014 Gaza War. In 2015, the United States designated Sinwar and Deif as Specially Designated Global Terrorists. Sinwar served as Deif’s representative on the ground in Gaza, linking the armed wing’s senior command to operations there. During the May 2021 war, he participated in a joint security room, and the IDF attempted to strike him. By November 2023, he had survived at least six attempts on his life over two decades.

Ideology and statements

Sinwar’s public role was chiefly military. His early association with al-Rantisi and his long service in Hamas placed him within the organization’s campaign of armed attacks against Israel. On the morning of October 7, 2023, Hamas used its Al-Aqsa television channel to announce the assault on Israel. Deif also issued an audio announcement of the operation. Sinwar’s operational role, rather than a body of published writing or speeches, defined his prominence.

His conduct after Yahya’s death reflected Hamas’s priority of preserving its armed organization during the war. He directed Hamas men to recruit thousands of new members with promises of food and medicine, while leading efforts to rebuild the group’s strength in Gaza. His guarded communications and movements remained central to his leadership style.

Role in attacks or conflicts

Sinwar and Deif were behind suicide bombings in the mid-1990s that killed dozens of Israelis. A decade later, Sinwar’s role in Shalit’s kidnapping made him a central figure in one of Hamas’s most consequential hostage operations. The captivity lasted until the 2011 exchange and directly affected Hamas’s later leadership through Yahya Sinwar’s release.

Sinwar played a crucial role in planning Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Deif coordinated with Yahya Sinwar in planning the assault, while Mohammed held a senior operational position in the armed wing. The attack began the Gaza war, during which Mohammed commanded Hamas fighters in southern Gaza. Israeli forces targeted Hamas’s command network, including Deif and both Sinwar brothers, as the fighting continued.

Hamas’s ties to the Islamic Republic of Iran were also documented in materials recovered from the tunnel complex where Sinwar was killed. The documents recorded communications between Sinwar and Saeed Izadi, a commander in the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Under “Plan Tufan 1,” Izadi advanced weapons transfers to Hamas valued at about $21 million. The correspondence also described preparations for “Tufan 2,” intended to transfer another $25 million in arms. Israeli forces reported that the plans did not materialize as intended. The communications showed the importance of Iranian regime support to Hamas’s wartime military planning.

After Israeli forces killed Yahya Sinwar in October 2024, Hamas chose a council to run Gaza and make its leadership harder to eliminate. Mohammed became its most prominent member and rose to the top of Hamas’s Gaza leadership. He led efforts to restore the group’s fighting capacity while its forces continued operating in the south. His elevation followed the loss of several senior Hamas commanders and concentrated substantial military and organizational authority in his hands.

Death or current status

On May 13, 2025, Israel struck an underground Hamas command center beneath the European Hospital in Khan Yunis. Sinwar was killed there alongside Muhammad Shabana, commander of Hamas’s Rafah Brigade, and Mahdi Kawara, commander of its south Khan Yunis battalion. Their meeting had departed from Hamas’s wartime security protocols. Israeli forces subsequently entered the tunnel complex, recovered Sinwar’s body and the bodies of at least ten other Hamas operatives, and collected command materials.

Hamas’s use of tunnels beneath the hospital placed military command activity under a protected medical site and exposed civilians nearby to danger. Civilian harm in Gaza is real and tragic; assessment of this strike must account for both Israel’s conduct and Hamas’s decision to operate from beneath the hospital. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed Sinwar’s death during a parliamentary session on May 28. The IDF publicly confirmed his killing on May 31, and later reported that identification of his recovered body had been completed.

Legacy

Sinwar’s career connected several phases of Hamas’s armed campaign against Israel: attacks in the 1990s, Shalit’s kidnapping, the October 7 assault, and the war that followed. His part in the Shalit operation helped bring Yahya Sinwar back into Hamas leadership; Mohammed later succeeded his brother as the group’s leading figure in Gaza. Their deaths, together with the loss of Deif and other commanders, removed much of the network that had directed Hamas’s military operations.

After Mohammed Sinwar’s death, Hamas appointed Ezzedin al-Haddad as its new Gaza chief. The succession illustrated the group’s effort to maintain command despite repeated losses. Materials recovered at Sinwar’s final command site also provided a record of his communications with Izadi and the planned flow of Iranian weapons. His death beneath the European Hospital left a further example of Hamas placing military infrastructure within civilian surroundings during the Gaza war.