By Nidal al-Mughrabi
Jan 7 (Reuters) – Mohammad Sinwar, the elusive Hamas military chief in Gaza, has been Israel’s most wanted man for months after his brother’s death in 2024. On December 29, Hamas announced that he had died at the age of 49, about seven months after Israel said it had killed him in a strike.
Hamas did not provide details on Sinwar’s death, but said it mourned him along with other group leaders, describing them as “heroic martyrs”. Hamas confirmed in the statement that Sinwar was the head of the group’s armed forces.
Sinwar was elevated to the top ranks of Hamas in 2024 after the death in battle of his brother Yahya, the mastermind of the October 2023 attack on Israel that led to the Gaza war and later the Palestinian organization’s overall leader.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in May 2025 that Sinwar had been killed. Less than two weeks later, the Israeli military said it recovered Sinwar’s body in an underground tunnel under a hospital in southern Gaza.
Sinwar’s death is expected to leave the next commander, Izzeldeen Haddad, who oversaw operations in northern Gaza, in charge of Hamas’s armed wing throughout the enclave.
It is unclear how the death will affect decision-making within Hamas more broadly — for example, whether it will strengthen or diminish the influence of exiled members of the group’s ruling council on policy matters, particularly the full implementation of the Gaza ceasefire plan agreed with Israel in October.
ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS
Hamas officials have described Sinwar as a “ghost” who has long outrun Israel’s intelligence agencies.
Like his brother Yahya, Sinwar survived many Israeli assassination attempts, including airstrikes and explosives, Hamas sources said.
When Sinwar once visited a cemetery, his companions discovered a brick-like remote-controlled explosive planted in his path, according to Hamas sources.
In 2003, Hamas operatives discovered a bomb in the wall of Mohammad Sinwar’s home, foiling an assassination attempt that the group blamed on Israeli intelligence.
CLANDESTINE PLOTS
Known for clandestine operations, Mohammad Sinwar played a central role in planning and executing the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, the country’s biggest security failure, Hamas sources said.
He was also believed to be one of the masterminds of the 2006 cross-border attack and kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Hamas held Shalit for five years before he was exchanged for more than 1,000 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
As part of the deal, his brother Yahya Sinwar, whose meticulous planning for the 2023 attack shattered Israel’s reputation as an invincible power in a hostile region, was among those released.
HAMAS weakened but standing
Netanyahu promised to eradicate Hamas. The offensive against Gaza by the Israel Defense Forces, the most advanced military in the Middle East, has severely weakened the organization.
Yahya Sinwar was killed in action during a routine Israeli patrol in Gaza in 2024.
Israel has released footage of a seriously injured Yahya Sinwar throwing a piece of wood at a hovering drone – his last act of defiance against his old enemy before his death and the rise of his brother.
But the group, which was created during the first Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation in 1987 and carried out suicide bombings that traumatized Israelis in the second, is still standing.
FROM REFUGEE TO HARDLINER
Born on September 16, 1975, Sinwar rarely appeared in public or spoke to the media. He gave a lengthy interview to Al Jazeera for a documentary to be broadcast in 2022, but wore a cap and sat in the dark to hide his appearance.
The Sinwars originally came from Asqalan – now the Israeli city of Ashkelon, a short distance north of the Gaza Strip. Along with hundreds of thousands of other Palestinians, they became refugees in what they call the Nakba, or catastrophe, when Israel declared independence during the 1948 war.
The family settled in Khan Younis in Gaza, which was largely reduced to ruins in the last war.
Mohammad Sinwar was educated in schools run by the United Nations Palestinian aid agency (UNRWA), which has long been a target of Israeli criticism, including during the recent Gaza war.
He joined Hamas shortly after its founding, influenced by his brother Yahya, a former member of the Muslim Brotherhood, the oldest and at one time the most influential Islamist group in the Middle East.
His reputation as a farmer helped him rise through the military ranks of the group. Until 2005, he headed the Khan Younis Brigade of Hamas.
The unit, one of the largest and most powerful battalions in Hamas’ armed wing, was responsible for cross-border attacks, firing rockets and planting bombs along the border. “It’s easier to hit Tel Aviv than to drink water,” Sinwar told Al Jazeera.
The unit also tracks the movements of Israeli soldiers around the clock. In 2006, elite commandos led by Sinwar took part in Shalit’s kidnapping.
Sources close to Hamas say Sinwar has developed close ties with Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’ military wing, and Mohammed Deif, the aloof military chief. Both men were killed by Israel in 2024.
In its statement announcing Sinwar’s death on December 29, Hamas said he had succeeded Deif.
(Reporting by Nidal Al-Mughrabi; Writing by Tala Ramadan; Editing by Olivier Holmey and Michael Georgy)