Latest news with #MuhammadSinwar
Memri
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Memri
Article In Qatari Government Daily: Muhammad Sinwar Was A Great And Daring Fighter – It Is Enough That He Was October 7 'Mastermind'
The Qatari government press continues to declare its full-throated support for Hamas and its terrorist activities against Israel, especially for its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel in which some 1,200 people were murdered and 251 were taken hostage. This approach is in line with Qatar's unconditional support for its protégé Hamas.[1] One expression of this support was an article published June 8, 2025 by the Qatari Al-Raya government daily. In it, senior writer Babiker Issa[2] praised Muhammad Sinwar, a top official of the Hamas military wing, the 'Izz Ad-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, and one of the planners of the October 7 attack. Sinwar, killed recently in the Gaza Strip, was the brother of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who was killed in October 2024. Under the headline "Sinwar – Icon of the Palestinian Resistance," Issa called Muhammad Sinwar "a daring fighter" and "an honorable and great warrior." He went on to describe him as "an icon of the national struggle on the land of Palestine and in Gaza," and as "the planner and the mastermind – with his comrades the fighters – of the Al-Aqsa Flood operation on October 7, 2023… which restored to the Palestinian issue its brilliance and its glory." Also in his article, Issa placed Muhammad Sinwar alongside prominent historical figures such as the Prophet Muhammad and Jesus Christ, freedom fighters such as Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King, and Nelson Mandela, and PLO leaders such as Yasser Arafat and his deputy Abu Jihad, who had headed the Fatah military wing and was responsible for the murder of dozens of Israelis in numerous terrorist attacks in the 1970s and 1980s. Muhammad Sinwar (Source: May 25, 2025) The following are excerpts from Babiker Issa's June 8, 2025 article in the Qatari Al-Raya government daily: Beginning his article with an extensive list of prominent figures who changed history, from Jesus and the Prophet Muhammad to the 20th century and "great and honorable fighters" such as Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, and others, Issa went on to state: "...What led me to the biographies of these esteemed fighters who sacrificed the best of their lives for the sake of their country is the story of the daring fighter Muhammad Sinwar (1975-2025), in whom I see, according to every criterion, an icon of the national struggle on the exalted land of Palestine and in Gaza of steadfastness. "It is enough that this great and honorable warrior was the planner and the mastermind – along with his comrades the fighters – of the Al-Aqsa Flood operation on October 7, 2023, which restored to the world the sanity that was absent and was stolen from it, and which restored to the Palestinian issue the brilliance and glory that was stolen from it. This was in spite of the excessive sacrifices [that resulted from the operation] and the attempts at exiling and erasing [the Palestinians] from human existence. "When I think of [Muhammad] Sinwar, who frightened his hangmen [i.e. the Israelis] even after his death, I think of a deceased leader: Yasser Arafat (1929-2004), a national symbol and a charismatic figure who combined diplomatic activity with the armed struggle, and of his fortunate comrades, several of whom I had the opportunity to meet. I recall George Habash (1926-2008), founder of the Popular Front [for the Liberation of Palestine], aka 'the doctor,' one of the most influential leaders in Palestinian revolutionary thought. [I recall] the fighter Khalil Al-Wazir (Abu Jihad, 1935-1988), architect of the first Intifada, who was killed by the Mossad in Tunisia. [I recall] the fighter Salah Khalaf Abu Iyad (1933-1991), one of the most prominent leaders of Fatah and head of internal security in the PLO..."[3]
Asharq Al-Awsat
10-06-2025
- Health
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Inside the Tunnel Where Muhammad Sinwar Was Killed
By Patrick Kingsley* Two feet wide and less than six feet tall, the tunnel led deep beneath a major hospital in southern Gaza. The underground air bore the stench of what smelled like human remains. After walking some 40 yards along the tunnel, we found the likely cause. In a tiny room that the tunnel led to, the floor was stained with blood. It was here, according to the Israeli military, that Muhammad Sinwar - one of Hamas's top commanders and the younger brother of slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar - was killed last month after a nearby barrage of Israeli strikes. What we saw in that dark and narrow tunnel is one of the war's biggest Rorschach tests (psychological assessment tool that uses inkblots to evaluate a person's personality), the embodiment of a broader narrative battle between Israelis and Palestinians over how the conflict should be portrayed. The military escorted a reporter from The New York Times to the tunnel on Sunday afternoon, as part of a brief and controlled visit for international journalists that the Israelis hoped would prove that Hamas uses civilian infrastructure as a shield for military activity. To Palestinians, Israel's attack on, and subsequent capture of, the hospital compound highlighted its own disregard for civilian activity. Body of Muhammad Sinwar Last month, the military ordered the hospital's staff and patients to leave the compound, along with the residents of the surrounding neighborhoods. Then, officials said, they bored a huge hole, some 10 yards deep, in a courtyard within the hospital grounds. Soldiers used that hole to gain access to the tunnel and retrieve Sinwar's body, and they later escorted journalists there so we could see what they called his final hiding place. There are no known entrances to the tunnel within the hospital itself, so we lowered ourselves into the Israeli-made cavity using a rope. To join this controlled tour, The Times agreed not to photograph most soldiers' faces or publish geographic details that would put them in immediate physical danger. To the Israelis who brought us there, this hiding place - directly underneath the emergency department of the European Gaza Hospital - is emblematic of how Hamas has consistently endangered civilians, and broken international law, by directing its military operations from the cover of hospitals and schools. Hamas has also dug tunnels underneath Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City and a UN complex elsewhere in that city. 'We were dragged by Hamas to this point,' Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, the chief Israeli military spokesman, said at the hospital on Sunday afternoon. 'If they weren't building their infrastructure under the hospitals, we wouldn't be here. We wouldn't attack this hospital.' Defrin said that Israel had tried to minimize damage to the hospital by striking the area around its buildings, without a direct hit on the medical facilities themselves. 'The aim was not to damage the hospital and, as much as we could, to avoid collateral damage,' he said. Prioritize Destruction of Hamas To the Palestinians who were forced from here, the Israeli attack on Sinwar embodied Israel's willingness to prioritize the destruction of Hamas over the protection of civilian life and infrastructure, particularly the health system. According to the World Health Organization, Israel has conducted at least 686 attacks on health facilities in Gaza since the start of the war, damaging at least 33 of Gaza's 36 hospitals. Many, like the European Gaza Hospital, are now out of service, fueling accusations from rights groups and foreign governments — strongly denied by the Israelis— that Israel is engaged in genocide, in part by wrecking the Palestinian health system. 'It's morally and legally unacceptable, but Israel thinks it is above the law,' Dr. Salah al-Hams, the hospital spokesman, said in a phone interview from another part of southern Gaza. Though Israel targeted the periphery of the hospital site, leaving the hospital buildings standing, al-Hams said the strikes had wounded 10 people within the compound, damaged its water and sewage systems and dislodged part of its roof. It killed 23 people in buildings beyond its perimeter, he said, 17 more than were reported the day of the attack. The tremors caused by the strikes were like an 'earthquake,' al-Hams said. Al-Hams said he had been unaware of any tunnels beneath the hospital. Even if they were there, he said: 'This does not justify the attack. Israel should have found other ways to eliminate any wanted commander. There were a thousand other ways to do it.' Piles of Rubble Our journey to the hospital revealed much about the current dynamics of the war in Gaza. In a roughly 20-minute ride from the Israeli border, we saw no Palestinians — the result of Israel's decision to order the residents of southern Gaza to abandon their homes and head west to the sea. Many buildings were simply piles of rubble, destroyed either by Israeli strikes and demolitions or Hamas' booby-traps. Here and there, some buildings survived, more or less intact; on one balcony, someone had left a tidy line of potted cactuses. We drove in open-top jeeps, a sign that across this swath of southeastern Gaza, the Israeli military no longer fears being ambushed by Hamas fighters. Until at least the Salah al-Din highway, the territory's main north-south artery, the Israeli military seemed to be in complete command after the expansion of its ground campaign in March. The European Gaza Hospital and the tunnel beneath it are among the places that now appear to be exclusively under Israeli control. Under the laws of war, a medical facility is considered a protected site that can be attacked only in very rare cases. If one side uses the site for military purposes, that may make it a legitimate target, but only if the risk to civilians is proportional to the military advantage created by the attack. The Israeli military said it had tried to limit harm to civilians by striking only around the edges of the hospital compound. But international legal experts said that any assessment of the strike's legality needed also to take into account its effect on the wider health system in southern Gaza. In a territory where many hospitals are already not operational, experts said, it is harder to find legal justification for strikes that put the remaining hospitals out of service, even if militants hide beneath them. Sinwar and 4 Fellow Militants When we entered the tunnel on Sunday, we found it almost entirely intact. The crammed room where Sinwar and four fellow militants were said to have died was stained with blood, but its walls appeared undamaged. The mattresses, clothes and bedsheets did not appear to have been dislodged by the explosions, and an Israeli rifle — stolen earlier in the war, the soldiers said — dangled from a hook in the corner. It was not immediately clear how Sinwar was killed, and Defrin said he could not provide a definitive answer. He suggested that Sinwar and his allies may have suffocated in the aftermath of the strikes or been knocked over by a shock wave unleashed by explosions. If Sinwar was intentionally poisoned by gases released by such explosions, it would raise legal questions, experts on international law said. 'It would be an unlawful use of a conventional bomb — a generally lawful weapon — if the intent is to kill with the asphyxiating gases released by that bomb,' said Sarah Harrison, a former lawyer at the US Defense Department and an analyst at the International Crisis Group. Defrin denied any such intent. 'This is something that I have to emphasize here, as a Jew first and then as a human being: We don't use gas as weapons,' he said. In other tunnels discovered by the Israeli military, soldiers have used Palestinians as human shields, sending them on ahead to scour for traps. The general denied the practice. The tunnel was excavated by Israelis, he said. The New York Times
Mint
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Mint
A surprising power shift inside Hamas
THE NARROW tunnel still reeked of decomposing bodies. A section was blocked by rubble created by two Israeli air strikes on May 13th. The tunnel was only opened by Israeli troops when they reached the spot, at the entrance to the European Hospital in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, nearly four weeks later. Five bodies were found in a small underground room beneath the emergency ward of the main hospital in Gaza's second-largest city. On June 8th one was identified as that of Muhammad Sinwar, the military chief of Hamas. The confirmation of Mr Sinwar's death changes little in and of itself. Hamas has already appointed a replacement and it has weathered the killings of many of its bosses. But it could shift the balance within the movement's leadership, formerly dominated by Gazans, just as Israel once again increases pressure on the coastal strip. The Israel Defence Force (IDF) opened the tunnel to journalists earlier that same day. It was the first time members of international news organisations had been allowed into Gaza for five months. This limited and controlled media visit (no foreign journalists have been allowed into Gaza independently since the start of the war in October 2023) had two purposes. The first was propaganda. The IDF was anxious to show that it had left the hospital building intact (though all patients and staff had been evicted), despite Hamas using it to cover its hideaway. This was rather undermined by devastation in and around Khan Younis, a city formerly of over 200,000 residents who have been forced to evacuate to a miserable 'humanitarian zone" near the Mediterranean coast. The second was psychological warfare. Israel hopes to prove to the surviving Hamas leaders, and to the civilian population they still control in Gaza, that they are running out of places to hide. One military official suggested the confirmation of Sinwar's death could be 'a pivotal moment" which could lead to Hamas accepting Israel's terms for a ceasefire. That ceasefire, brokered by America and Qatar along with Egypt, has been on the table in various forms for months. It would start with a 60-day truce during which about half of the remaining Israeli hostages would be released in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. During this period, Israeli forces would pull back from parts of Gaza and allow more aid in while talks would be held towards a long-term ceasefire. This last point remains the main obstacle to a deal. Hamas continues to demand guarantees for a permanent peace that Israel has refused to give. But in recent days, Hamas has indicated it is open to discussing new terms. The entry into the strip of limited quantities of aid through distribution networks over which it has little control may worry the group. The relentless destruction of Gaza by Israel's army, which threatens even more devastation, may too. And the death of Sinwar, the younger brother of Yahya Sinwar, the orchestrator of the October 7th attacks, may have influenced them, in part because it has changed the dynamics of Hamas's leadership. The new de-facto Hamas leader in Gaza is Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the commander in northern Gaza. He is the last of the veteran Hamas chiefs in Gaza. He was tasked with concealing and securing many of the Israeli hostages seized on October 7th and is still believed to control their fate. His new role, however—co-ordinating with the leaders of Hamas outside Gaza—is his first brush with the broader politics of the movement. 'Al-Haddad will have to decide now if he wants to be remembered as the man on whose watch Gaza was finally destroyed," says an Israeli intelligence analyst. 'He may prefer to be the last man standing after a ceasefire." Under the Sinwar brothers, the Gazan branch of Hamas, where the group originated, dominated. With them dead, the leaders outside the strip—in Doha, Beirut and Istanbul—have the upper hand once again. The movement has not replaced Yahya Sinwar as overall leader. Instead it is run by four men: Khaled Mashal, a former head of Hamas and long-time advocate of closer ties with moderate Sunni regimes instead of Iran; Zaher Jabarin, who represents Hamas's West Bank branch and is in charge of the movement's finances; Muhammad Darwish, a Lebanese-born Palestinian who has suggested that he might countenance Hamas relinquishing power in Gaza were it to be replaced by something like a national unity government; and Khalil al-Hayaa. A former deputy of Yahya Sinwar, Mr Hayya is the sole Gazan in the quartet and even he is now in Qatar. He is anxious to secure assurances that Hamas will be able to remain on the ground in Gaza after any ceasefire but looks increasingly isolated. The other three are expected to support a deal relinquishing Hamas's post-war role in Gaza but preserving its standing in the Arab world. This could make it easier to reach a ceasefire. So might political changes. The far-right parties in Binyamin Netanyahu's coalition who harbour ambitions of perpetual occupation and resettling Gaza have threatened to bring down the government if he ends the war. But other senior government officials have said recently they believe the conditions now exist for a long-term ceasefire. Increasing pressure from Donald Trump and Israel's other Western allies partly explains the shift. So too does a growing expectation that Hamas will accept conditions formally ending its rule of Gaza, including disarmament and the exile of some of its surviving leaders and fighters. Add to that the weakening leverage of Mr Netanyahu's far-right allies as the prospect of elections grows. The polls are currently scheduled for October 2026. But tensions within the coalition over demands by the ultra-Orthodox parties for an unpopular law exempting students of religious seminaries from military service could lead to a vote much sooner. Mr Netanyahu is wary of an election which he is likely, according to most current polls, to lose. But if he cannot prevent one, many in Jerusalem believe he would prefer to hold it after securing a ceasefire which led to the release of the remaining hostages which he could frame as a victory. A deal would also ease American pressure; Mr Netanyahu has no desire to go to the polls when he seems to be out of favour in Washington. Steve Witkoff, Mr Trump's envoy to the Middle East, is expected to return to the region in the coming days. He may arrive with a little more hope.
Hindustan Times
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
A surprising power shift inside Hamas
THE NARROW tunnel still reeked of decomposing bodies. A section was blocked by rubble created by two Israeli air strikes on May 13th. The tunnel was only opened by Israeli troops when they reached the spot, at the entrance to the European Hospital in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, nearly four weeks later. Five bodies were found in a small underground room beneath the emergency ward of the main hospital in Gaza's second-largest city. On June 8th one was identified as that of Muhammad Sinwar, the military chief of Hamas. The confirmation of Mr Sinwar's death changes little in and of itself. Hamas has already appointed a replacement and it has weathered the killings of many of its bosses. But it could shift the balance within the movement's leadership, formerly dominated by Gazans, just as Israel once again increases pressure on the coastal strip. The Israel Defence Force (IDF) opened the tunnel to journalists earlier that same day. It was the first time members of international news organisations had been allowed into Gaza for five months. This limited and controlled media visit (no foreign journalists have been allowed into Gaza independently since the start of the war in October 2023) had two purposes. The first was propaganda. The IDF was anxious to show that it had left the hospital building intact (though all patients and staff had been evicted), despite Hamas using it to cover its hideaway. This was rather undermined by devastation in and around Khan Younis, a city formerly of over 200,000 residents who have been forced to evacuate to a miserable 'humanitarian zone' near the Mediterranean coast. The second was psychological warfare. Israel hopes to prove to the surviving Hamas leaders, and to the civilian population they still control in Gaza, that they are running out of places to hide. One military official suggested the confirmation of Sinwar's death could be 'a pivotal moment' which could lead to Hamas accepting Israel's terms for a ceasefire. That ceasefire, brokered by America and Qatar along with Egypt, has been on the table in various forms for months. It would start with a 60-day truce during which about half of the remaining Israeli hostages would be released in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. During this period, Israeli forces would pull back from parts of Gaza and allow more aid in while talks would be held towards a long-term ceasefire. This last point remains the main obstacle to a deal. Hamas continues to demand guarantees for a permanent peace that Israel has refused to give. But in recent days, Hamas has indicated it is open to discussing new terms. The entry into the strip of limited quantities of aid through distribution networks over which it has little control may worry the group. The relentless destruction of Gaza by Israel's army, which threatens even more devastation, may too. And the death of Sinwar, the younger brother of Yahya Sinwar, the orchestrator of the October 7th attacks, may have influenced them, in part because it has changed the dynamics of Hamas's leadership. The new de-facto Hamas leader in Gaza is Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the commander in northern Gaza. He is the last of the veteran Hamas chiefs in Gaza. He was tasked with concealing and securing many of the Israeli hostages seized on October 7th and is still believed to control their fate. His new role, however—co-ordinating with the leaders of Hamas outside Gaza—is his first brush with the broader politics of the movement. 'Al-Haddad will have to decide now if he wants to be remembered as the man on whose watch Gaza was finally destroyed,' says an Israeli intelligence analyst. 'He may prefer to be the last man standing after a ceasefire.' Under the Sinwar brothers, the Gazan branch of Hamas, where the group originated, dominated. With them dead, the leaders outside the strip—in Doha, Beirut and Istanbul—have the upper hand once again. The movement has not replaced Yahya Sinwar as overall leader. Instead it is run by four men: Khaled Mashal, a former head of Hamas and long-time advocate of closer ties with moderate Sunni regimes instead of Iran; Zaher Jabarin, who represents Hamas's West Bank branch and is in charge of the movement's finances; Muhammad Darwish, a Lebanese-born Palestinian who has suggested that he might countenance Hamas relinquishing power in Gaza were it to be replaced by something like a national unity government; and Khalil al-Hayaa. A former deputy of Yahya Sinwar, Mr Hayya is the sole Gazan in the quartet and even he is now in Qatar. He is anxious to secure assurances that Hamas will be able to remain on the ground in Gaza after any ceasefire but looks increasingly isolated. The other three are expected to support a deal relinquishing Hamas's post-war role in Gaza but preserving its standing in the Arab world. This could make it easier to reach a ceasefire. So might political changes. The far-right parties in Binyamin Netanyahu's coalition who harbour ambitions of perpetual occupation and resettling Gaza have threatened to bring down the government if he ends the war. But other senior government officials have said recently they believe the conditions now exist for a long-term ceasefire. Increasing pressure from Donald Trump and Israel's other Western allies partly explains the shift. So too does a growing expectation that Hamas will accept conditions formally ending its rule of Gaza, including disarmament and the exile of some of its surviving leaders and fighters. Add to that the weakening leverage of Mr Netanyahu's far-right allies as the prospect of elections grows. The polls are currently scheduled for October 2026. But tensions within the coalition over demands by the ultra-Orthodox parties for an unpopular law exempting students of religious seminaries from military service could lead to a vote much sooner. Mr Netanyahu is wary of an election which he is likely, according to most current polls, to lose. But if he cannot prevent one, many in Jerusalem believe he would prefer to hold it after securing a ceasefire which led to the release of the remaining hostages which he could frame as a victory. A deal would also ease American pressure; Mr Netanyahu has no desire to go to the polls when he seems to be out of favour in Washington. Steve Witkoff, Mr Trump's envoy to the Middle East, is expected to return to the region in the coming days. He may arrive with a little more hope. Get 360° coverage—from daily headlines to 100 year archives.
Economist
09-06-2025
- Economist
A surprising power shift inside Hamas
THE NARROW tunnel still reeked of decomposing bodies. A section was blocked by rubble created by two Israeli air strikes on May 13th. The tunnel was only opened by Israeli troops when they reached the spot, at the entrance to the European Hospital in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, nearly four weeks later. Five bodies were found in a small underground room beneath the emergency ward of the main hospital in Gaza's second-largest city. On June 8th one was identified as that of Muhammad Sinwar, the military chief of Hamas.
