Israel seals tunnel in Gaza where top Hamas commander Sinwar was found dead PHOTO

Israeli forces have sealed an underground tunnel in the Gaza Strip with concrete, the same location where the body of Hamas military leader Mohammed Sinwar was discovered, according to a statement by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).

The operation took place near the European Hospital in Khan Younis, located in southern Gaza, Caliber.Az reports.

It was part of a broader Israeli mission to locate and examine underground infrastructure in the area. Following the investigation, Israeli forces filled the tunnel with approximately 250 cubic meters of concrete.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed Mohammed Sinwar’s death on May 28. Hamas, however, has not issued any official confirmation.

Mohammed Sinwar, one of the last remaining prominent Hamas commanders still present in Gaza, was the younger brother of Yahya Sinwar, the top Hamas political and military figure widely credited with orchestrating the October 7, 2023, attacks that led to the ongoing war. Yahya Sinwar was killed by Israeli forces in October 2024.

During the 19-month conflict, Israeli strikes have severely weakened Hamas’s leadership. Despite this, the group continues to control parts of Gaza not occupied by Israeli forces, and it retains dozens of hostages while launching intermittent attacks on Israeli troops.

As the head of Hamas's military wing, Mohammed Sinwar was believed to have held decision-making authority over hostage negotiations. His death is expected to complicate efforts by the US and Arab mediators to broker a ceasefire. Israel has reiterated that it will not halt its military operations until all hostages are freed and Hamas is either dismantled or driven out of the territory.

Born in 1975 in the Khan Younis refugee camp, Sinwar came from a family that, like hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, was displaced during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War that followed Israel’s establishment. Today, these refugees and their descendants form the majority of Gaza’s population.

Following in the footsteps of his older brother, Mohammed Sinwar joined Hamas soon after its founding in the late 1980s, when it emerged as the Palestinian offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. He became a member of its military branch, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, eventually rising to serve on the group’s so-called joint chiefs of staff — a position that placed him close to long-time Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in 2024.

Sinwar played a key role in planning the 2006 cross-border raid on an Israeli army position, which resulted in the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit. Schalit was held by Hamas for five years before being released in exchange for over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, including Yahya Sinwar.

In a televised interview with Al Jazeera three years ago, Mohammed Sinwar stated that Hamas “knows how to pinpoint the location that hurts the occupation and how to press it,” in reference to Israel.

Israeli officials have said Sinwar was targeted multiple times over the years, and he was mistakenly believed to have been killed during Israeli operations in 2014. He was reportedly among a very small group of Hamas commanders who had prior knowledge of the October 7, 2023, attack.

In December 2023, the Israeli military released video footage purportedly showing Mohammed Sinwar, bearded and seated beside a driver inside a vehicle navigating through a tunnel in Gaza. Hamas has not confirmed the authenticity of what would be one of the few publicly available images of him.

By Tamilla Hasanova