The Israel Defense Forces and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) on Tuesday carried out a precision airstrike on a Hamas command center located beneath the European Hospital in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza.
According to reports, the target of the strike was Mohammed Sinwar, a senior Hamas commander and brother of Yahya Sinwar, the former leader of the organization in Gaza, who was killed by Israel earlier in the conflict. Following his brother’s death, Mohammed Sinwar served as the group’s top military leader in Gaza, according to Israeli defense sources.
Multiple Israeli Air Force fighter jets were involved in the strike, which employed bunker-busting munitions to penetrate the subterranean complex. Officials said the site housed dozens of high-ranking Hamas operatives and was being used to coordinate attacks.
No official confirmation has been given regarding Sinwar’s status in the aftermath of the strike. The IDF and Shin Bet are continuing to assess the outcome.
Footage posted on social media shows significant damage in the area surrounding the hospital. Arab media outlets, including the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Mayadeen, claimed more than 20 fatalities and upwards of 70 injuries. The Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry reported at least 16 killed and over 70 wounded in the hospital vicinity, but those numbers have not been independently verified, and the ministry’s figures do not distinguish between terrorists and civilians.
Israeli officials emphasized that Hamas’s use of civilian infrastructure for military purposes violates international law and endangers innocent lives.
“We will not allow Hamas to hide behind hospitals or humanitarian sites,” said Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz. “We will strike its leaders wherever they are hiding until we achieve our war objectives—freeing our hostages and eliminating Hamas’s military capabilities.”
The European Hospital has long been identified by Israeli intelligence as a Hamas stronghold.
Elsewhere in Gaza, the Hamas-run civil defense agency claimed 29 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes over the past 24 hours, including 25 in Jabalia and four in Khan Yunis. Those figures have not been corroborated by independent organizations.
The Khan Yunis Brigade, considered one of Hamas’s most entrenched and ideologically driven units, continues to resist IDF advances in southern Gaza. Tuesday’s strike marks a significant development in Israel’s campaign to eliminate the terror group’s leadership and infrastructure.
