Palestinians walk past a destroyed bus May 14 at the site of an Israeli airstrike outside the European Hospital the previous day in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip. On Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces released footage from a tunnel near the hospital where they said they found the body of Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar. Photo by Mohammed Saber/EPA-EFE
The Israeli military on Sunday released video it said showed the underground rooms where they found the body of Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar who is believed to have died in tunnels under a Gaza hospital last month.
The announcement comes more than three weeks after the Israel Defense Forces launched an airstrike on a bunker near Gaza European Hospital in Khan Yunis, killing more than two dozen people. The IDF said Sinwar was among the dead and initially announced his body had been found in the days after the May 13 strike.
The IDF said it confirmed the identity of the body using DNA analysis as well as Sinwar’s identification cards found in the tunnels. Hamas has yet to confirm Sinwar’s death.
In a video posted on X, the IDF showed an underground tunnel and multiple rooms connected to it. In one room, a body can be seen lying on the ground near items such as firearms and clothing.
Another video features IDF spokesman Effie Defrin talking about the items they found as he stands next to a pile of cash.
Israel officials have long accused the Islamist militant group of using Gaza civilians as “human shields” by operating out of locations in or near civilian infrastructure such as hospitals and schools.
“More proof that Hamas leaders weren’t just hiding underground, they were running their terror network from beneath a hospital,” the IDF post on X said.
BBC News reported that hospital officials in Gaza have denied that Hamas uses their facilities.
Mohammed Sinwar was considered the de facto leader of Hamas after his older brother, Yahya Sinwar, the former leader, died in Rafah in October 2024. The elder Sinwar was considered a mastermind in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel that left more than 1,200 people dead and some 250 people abducted.
The ensuing war has left nearly 55,000 people dead in Gaza, according to the region’s health ministry.
