Israel‘s defence forces have revealed the moment the body of de facto Hamas chief Mohammad Sinwar was pulled from tunnels beneath a hospital in Khan Yunis some four weeks after the facility was battered with air strikes.
The IDF said it had confirmed the death of Sinwar – brother of former Hamas leader in Gaza and October 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar – on Sunday with a DNA test. The military also shared his alleged documentation and driver’s license.
His rotting corpse was discovered lying on a filthy mattress in one of several small annexes connected by a web of tunnels under the EU-funded European Hospital.
He is presumed to have died from asphyxiation after bombs collapsed part of the tunnel network and sucked the air from the underground hideouts.
Israeli soldiers wearing body cameras explored the dank man-made cave system littered with weapons, debris and dead Hamas fighters before locating the slain terror chief.
His body was subsequently stuffed into a white body bag, attached to a small stretcher and hoisted out of a huge crater next to the hospital in stark footage shared by the IDF.
Mohammad became the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip and chief of its armed wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, following the assassination of his brother.
Israeli officials declared the strikes that killed Sinwar and other high-ranking Hamas members on May 13 a ‘world-class’ operation and boasted that they had managed to ‘kill a terrorist hiding under a hospital, without hitting the hospital’.
But horrific CCTV footage from May 13 shows the moment Israeli bombs demolished the courtyard just outside the hospital entrance, where dozens of civilians were walking.
The terrified citizens are seen scrambling in a futile attempt to find cover as the bomb approaches before their bodies are torn apart and launched through the air in a fiery explosion.
When the smoke clears the civilians are nowhere to be seen. The road meanwhile begins to crack and crumble as flames erupt from under the ground.
Sinwar’s body was stuffed into a white body bag, attached to a small stretcher and hoisted out of a huge crater next to the hospital in stark footage shared by the IDF
Sinwar’s rotting corpse was discovered lying on a filthy mattress in one of several small annexes connected by a web of tunnels under the EU-funded European Hospital
Horrific CCTV footage from May 13 shows the moment Israeli bombs demolished the courtyard just outside the hospital entrance where dozens of civilians were walking
The terrified citizens are seen scrambling in a futile attempt to find cover as the bomb approaches before their bodies are torn apart and launched through the air in a fiery explosion
More than two dozen civilians were reportedly killed in the strikes along with Sinwar and other Hamas commanders
The head of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammad Sinwar, has been ‘eliminated’ in a massive air strike in Gaza
The IDF released extensive footage of the Hamas tunnel network under the European Hospital after confirming Sinwar’s death.
In bodycam footage of the find, a soldier enters a deep tunnel outside the medical facility and makes their way down a dim corridor.
They stumble into a room filled with what appears to be guns and ammunition before panning the camera to find Sinwar’s camouflaged body splayed on a small bed on the floor.
The IDF member then proceeds to walk through several other tunnels which lead to dark rooms filled with equipment, guns, radios and other detritus.
Soldiers only entered the tunnel system after the hospital and the surrounding area were secured by members of three teams – the Golani Brigade reconnaissance unit, the Shaldag special forces and the Yahalom combat engineering unit.
Reporters for the Times of Israel who were able to enter the subterranean network said the stench of rotting flesh was inescapable.
An Israeli major involved in the operation to find Sinwar’s body told the Times of Israel: ‘We understood that those bodies were very important from the first footage when we went in. It was very serious people in the organisation.’
‘The terrorists we took out are important,’ he continued, ‘but not as much as the weapons and intelligence that we took out from here.
‘We found a military base under a hospital, period. There’s no other way to say it,’ he said.
An official IDF statement issued in the wake of the finding read: ‘Mohammad Sinwar was responsible for the deaths of countless civilians. He was eliminated in an IDF & ISA strike on May 13.
‘His body was found beneath the European hospital in Khan Yunis – more proof of how Sinwar, and Hamas, hide behind their civilians and purposely embed themselves in civilian areas, such as hospitals.
‘He died the way he lived – underground’.
More than two dozen civilians were reportedly killed in the strikes along with Sinwar and other Hamas commanders.
The IDF on Sunday released footage of the discovery of Mohammad Sinwar’s body in a tunnel beneath a hospital in southern Gaza
The rooms beyond the tunnels were seen packed with weapons and other military equipment
The IDF said: ‘His body was found beneath the European hospital in Khan Yunis – more proof of how Sinwar, and Hamas, hide behind their civilians and purposely embed themselves in civilian areas, such as hospitals’
Sinwar, nicknamed ‘The Shadow’ and ‘The Butcher of Khan Younis’, was targeted in a massive airstrike on the hospital in Khan Yunis on May 13, just a day after Hamas released Israeli-American soldier Edan Alexander
In bodycam footage of the find also posted to X, a soldier enters a deep tunnel outside the medical facility before making their way down a dim corridor
Sinwar, nicknamed ‘The Shadow’ and ‘The Butcher of Khan Yunis’ by Israel, was targeted in the massive airstrikes in Khan Yunis on May 13, just a day after Hamas released Israeli-American soldier Edan Alexander.
At the time, the IDF said it had struck ‘Hamas terrorists in a command-and-control centre’ in underground infrastructure at the hospital.
Two weeks later, officials said they believed Sinwar had been killed in the strike, though said they could not confirm until his body had been recovered.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to announce his death two weeks ago on the 600th day of the war in Gaza following Hamas’ attacks on October 7, 2023.
‘We changed the face of the Middle East, we pushed the terrorists from our territories, we entered the Gaza Strip with force, we eliminated tens of thousands of terrorists, we eliminated (Mohammad) Deif, (Ismail) Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar and Mohammad Sinwar,’ he said in a speech at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.
The attack killed 28 Palestinians and wounded more than 50 others, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said after the strike.
Hamas apparently hid Sinwar’s body in the tunnels beneath the European Hospital to prevent Israel verifying his death and to ensure he could receive a high-profile funeral at a time of the group’s choosing.
But they were forced to abandon his corpse when Israeli units stormed Khan Yunis and surrounded the hospital.
According to Israeli reports, its military took advantage of Sinwar briefly separating himself from some of the hostages who remain in Hamas custody following the atrocities of October 7, 2023.
Sinwar used the hostages as human shields, confident Israel would not target him, but he attended talks with Hamas political leaders on May 13 without them.
Word reached Israeli military commanders, and to the surprise of those involved in the operation, authorisation was granted for air strikes close to the hospital.
At the time, the IDF said it had struck ‘Hamas terrorists in a command-and-control centre’ in underground infrastructure at the hospital
An Israeli soldier guards at a tunnel, where the Israeli army believes to be Hamas leaders underground infrastructure while escorting members of the press near the Gaza European Hospital near Khan Yunis on June 8, 2025 in Khan Yunis, Gaza
Israeli soldiers enter a tunnel beneath the European Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, where the military claims Hamas militants had been operating
Hamas apparently hid Sinwar’s body in a tunnel to prevent Israel verifying his death and to ensure he could receive a high-profile funeral at a time of the group’s choosing
The Hamas-run civil defence said that during the strike six bombs hit the hospital’s inner courtyard and surrounding area, killing 28 people and injuring dozens more
The IDF alleges tunnels under the European Hospital in southern Gaza were used by Hamas as a command center during the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, masterminded by Yahya Sinwar
Mohammad Sinwar was the brother of former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar (pictured), who was killed by the IDF in October last year
Pictured: Yahya Sinwar throwing a stick at a drone moments before his death last year
Mohammad Sinwar took over the leadership of Hamas’s military wing last year following the death of his older brother Yahya who was killed in October 2024, a year on from Hamas’ ruthless attacks he had orchestrated.
Remarkable footage recorded by an Israeli drone showed Yahya sitting in an armchair in the devastated remains of a multi-storey building following an air strike.
The terror leader, evidently weary and moving in a laboured fashion, appeared to wave a piece of floorboard in defiance at the reconnaissance drone.
Minutes later an air strike reduced the structure to rubble.
Israeli soldiers subsequently dragged Yahya’s body from the ruins of the building.
His death was considered a key milestone in Israeli’s war on Hamas, given that he played a leading role in planning and commanding the October 7 attacks which killed 1,200 people and resulted in 250 hostages being taken into Gaza.
That atrocity triggered Israel’s retaliatory assault on the Occupied Palestinian Territories which has cost more than 50,000 lives, displaced millions of people and caused a humanitarian catastrophe.
Controversially, Israel has sidelined the major international agencies attempting to deliver sorely needed aid to Gazans and instead set up its own shadowy aid organisation in conjunction with the US.
Israel said the move was necessary to prevent Hamas from intercepting aid meant for Gaza residents.
But Israel’s critics have accused the country of orchestrating the provision of lifesaving supplies effectively to enable ethnic cleansing.
