Media outlets in Gaza have reported the death of Zakaria Sinwar, brother of both former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and current de facto Hamas leader in Gaza, Muhammad Sinwar, in an Israeli airstrike carried out overnight in Nuseirat, located in the central Gaza Strip.
According to the reports, Zakaria Sinwar was killed alongside three of his children when an airstrike struck the tent where they were residing.
Zakaria Sinwar was a lecturer at the Islamic University in Gaza, and was not known to have a direct operational role in the Hamas military wing. However, his familial ties to two of the group’s most senior figures are significant.
The reports have not been officially confirmed by the Israeli military.
The news of Zakaria Sinwar’s death comes amid escalating Israeli operations across the Gaza Strip, part of an intensified campaign aimed at dismantling Hamas’s remaining leadership and infrastructure.
Shortly before the announcement of Zakaria’s death, a Saudi news outlet reported that the body of Muhammad Sinwar—a senior Hamas commander—was found in a tunnel in Khan Yunis, which was targeted in Israeli airstrikes last week. That report has also not been officially confirmed by Israeli authorities.
Meanwhile, Defense Minister Israel Katz reportedly tells the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that he believes Hamas leader Muhammad Sinwar was killed in an Israeli strike last week.
“There’s no official confirmation, but according to all the indications Muhammad Sinwar was eliminated,” Ynet cites Katz as saying.
Israel’s military has declared its current operations are focused on achieving what it calls the “complete defeat of Hamas,” including the elimination of key commanders and the destruction of tunnel networks used by the group.
