ISRAEL has targeted Hamas’ leader in Gaza in fresh airstrikes on the terror group’s HQ.
Muhammad Sinwar, dubbed The Shadow, took command from his older brother Yahya Sinwar after the boss was killed by the IDF in October 2024.
Israel attempted to target Sinwar junior by bombing what is reportedly Hamas’ command hub located beneath the European Hospital in the southern part of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday afternoon.
Jets also appeared to be targeting a nearby school.
It is not clear whether The Shadow was killed after multiple strikes hit around the outside of the hospital.
The IDF is believed to have used bunker-busting bombs to target the underground complex.
It reportedly targeted the exits of the subterranean compound with the aim of preventing the escape of any survivors.
Footage released by Israeli showed its fighter jets dropping bombs on what it said was the underground bunker.
Another clip caught on CCTV showed people walking along the road run for their lives as they heard the bomb drop to the ground.
A mighty explosion is then seen, before the ground collapsed and another fireball erupted.
Medical teams have now evacuated the hospital leaving only eight ICU patients, according to a British doctor interviewed on Sky News.
The terror-group-run healthy ministry said 28 were killed and over 50 wounded in the strikes.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health does not differentiate between military and civilian casualties.
The IDF stated: “The Hamas terror group persists in using hospitals in the Gaza Strip for terrorist activities, cynically and cruelly taking advantage of the civilian population in and around the hospital.”
An Israeli official told the Jerusalem Post: “[Mohammed] Sinwar was the most extreme figure in terms of negotiation positions for reaching a deal.
“If he is out of the picture, it should ease the efforts to reach an agreement.”
After Muhammad Deif was killed last July, Sinwar assumed leadership of Hamas’ military division and subsequently took charge of the entire organization following his brother’s death.
The older Sinwar was dubbed Gaza’s bin Laden after he carved out a bloody reputation for killing his enemies with his bare hands.
Israel’s strikes in southern Gaza come as their strikes in the north of the strip killed 70, the health ministry said.
The Indonesian hospital reported that 22 children and 15 women were killed after a number of homes and a refugee camp were hit on Tuesday night.
The UN’s humanitarian affairs chief urged members of the UN Security Council to take action to “prevent genocide” in Gaza.
Speaking in New York on Tuesday, Tom Fletcher accused Israel of “deliberately and unashamedly imposing inhumane conditions on civilians”.
Israel’s envoy to the UN, Danny Danon, labelled the accusations as “baseless and outrageous”.
Israel cut off all deliveries of aid to Gaza on March 2 and resumed its offensive against Hamas on March 18 after the collapse of a two-month ceasefire.
Hamas released 38 hostages under the ceasefire that began on January 19.
Israel now holds around a third of the land in the Gaza strip and is looking at conquering the entire strip.
Hamas released the last known American hostage on Monday.
Edan Alexander, 21, an Israeli-American soldier who grew up in the US, was abducted from his base during the October 7 terror attack.
Heartwarming footage shows the moment Edan’s family run up to the released soldier, hugging and kissing him.
Who is Muhammad Sinwar?
Muhammad Sinwar is the leader of the Hamas terror group in Gaza that continues to hold Israeli hostages.
He is believed to be around 50 years old and has been operating largely behind the scenes, earning him the nickname ” The Shadow.”
Like his older brother, he joined Hamas at an early age and was considered close to the head of the group’s armed wing, Mohammed Deif.
Mohammed is also believed to have been behind the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2006 which eventually led to the release of his brother in a prisoner swap.
He has been named by political analysts as Hamas’s most senior commander in Gaza alongside Izz al-Din Haddad – and according to Israeli officials they have the final say in the ongoing hostage negotiations.
