IDF believes it found body of Hamas leader Muhammad Sinwar in tunnel under Gaza hospital

The Israel Defense Forces believes it may have located the body of Hamas leader Muhammad Sinwar, who was killed in an Israeli strike on a tunnel system last month, military officials said Saturday.

IDF troops operating in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis located the bodies of several terror operatives in the past day who were killed in the May 13 strike on a tunnel beneath the European Hospital, the military officials stated.

The IDF believed that one of the bodies may belong to Sinwar.

The IDF on Saturday confirmed that troops were operating inside Hamas tunnels in the area of the European Hospital, publishing footage of one of them.

“During the activity, IDF troops reached an underground route that was struck three weeks ago, where Muhammad Sinwar and other terrorists were located. Bodies of terrorists who have not yet been identified were located in the area,” the military said.

The IDF said it also located several findings “that prove the cynical use made by the Hamas terror organization of the hospital as a shield for its operations.”

A Hamas tunnel underneath the European Hospital in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, where Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar was killed, in a video published by the IDF on June 7, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

The military said the tunnel featured command and control rooms, weapons, and other intelligence materials. The tunnel was used by the terror group as one of its main command centers during the October 7 onslaught, the IDF said.

“Throughout the war, the IDF has repeatedly exposed the use of hospitals across the Gaza Strip by the Hamas terror organization for terror activity and as hiding places for senior members of Hamas’s military wing,” the military said.

The IDF said the tunnel “is located directly beneath the European Hospital in Khan Younis and was also built by Hamas.”

Meanwhile, Hamas warned Saturday that Israeli troops were “besieging” an area in Gaza where hostage Matan Zangauker was being held.

“We affirm that the enemy will not be able to recover him alive. We have preserved his life for 20 months; if this prisoner is killed during an attempt to free him, the occupation army will be the one responsible for his death,” said Hudhaifa Kahlout — known by the nom de guerre Abu Obeida — the spokesman for Hamas’s military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades.

“This is a final warning,” he added.

Zangauker’s mother, Einav, is a key figure in the protest movement demanding that the government reach a deal for the release of hostages in exchange for an end to the war.

Hamas has previously said it will execute hostages if Israeli troops are seen approaching areas where they are being held. In August 2024, Hamas murdered six hostages in Rafah as Israeli forces were operating nearby.

Military officials have repeatedly said that every strike and ground operation in Gaza is carefully planned out in order not to endanger Israeli hostages.

The IDF published on Saturday the identities of two Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives killed in an Israeli airstrike on a hospital in Gaza City on Thursday, saying the pair were “operating under the guise of journalists.”

The strike on Thursday hit a press compound in the courtyard of the Al-Ma’amadani Hospital, also known as Al-Ahli, killing journalists Suleiman Hajaj, Samir al-Rifai, Ismail Badah, and Ahmed Qaljah, according to Palestinian media.

The IDF said Thursday that the compound was used by Islamic Jihad operatives to plan and carry out attacks on troops and Israeli civilians.

Hajaj, according to the IDF, was a deputy commander of an Islamic Jihad engineering cell, and al-Rifai was also a member of the terror group. The military does not comment on the other two reported fatalities.

????ELIMINATED: Two Islamic Jihad terrorists who posed as journalists and operated from a command center in the courtyard of the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza.

The terrorists exploited the hospital to plan and execute terror activities against Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers.… pic.twitter.com/DbVxCHtQL0

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) June 7, 2025

12 reported killed in overnight strike on tent camp

Palestinian media reported Saturday that 12 people were killed and some 40 were wounded in an overnight strike on a tent camp for displaced Gazans in the Khan Younis area.

The reports cited a medical source at Nasser Hospital.

There was no immediate comment from the IDF on the strike.

Separately, Hamas-run civil defense agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that at around 7:00 a.m. (0400 GMT), “six people were killed and several others wounded by the forces of the Israeli occupation near the Al-Alam roundabout.”

Gazans have gathered at the roundabout almost daily since late May to collect humanitarian aid from the Gaza Humanitarian Fund aid center about one kilometer (a little over half a mile) away.

AFP was unable to independently verify the tolls compiled by the agency or the circumstances of the deaths it reports.

The Israeli military told AFP that troops had fired “warning shots” at individuals that it said were “advancing in a way that endangered the troops.”

Samir Abu Hadid, who was there early Saturday, told AFP that thousands of people had gathered near the roundabout.

“As soon as some people tried to advance towards the aid center, the Israeli occupation forces opened fire from armored vehicles stationed near the center, firing into the air and then at civilians,” Abu Hadid said.

The GHF said it wasn’t able to operate on Saturday due to Hamas threats targeting its staff.

The group’s statement didn’t provide any further information on the threats, but a GHF spokesperson said they were directed at the foundation’s drivers and the local Gazan staff helping operate the distribution sites.

Witnesses have blamed Israeli soldiers for killings in the area over the past week. The Israeli military said it fired warning shots on two days, while on Tuesday, it said soldiers had fired at Palestinian suspects advancing toward their positions.

An initial mass casualty event came on Sunday as hundreds of Gazans made their way to an Israeli- and US-backed aid distribution compound in Rafah — the only one open that day, amid the partial easing of the more than two-month blockade on aid into the Strip.

Hamas-controlled health authorities in the war-torn enclave reported that 31 people had been killed and nearly 200 had been wounded in the pre-dawn shooting near the distribution center in Rafah, for which the IDF largely denied responsibility.

The death toll could not be verified, nor were the subsequent Hamas-issued tolls of three killed on Monday and 27 killed on Tuesday in similar incidents.

Israel launched its war in Gaza following the October 7, 2023, Hamas assault on southern Israel that killed some 1,200 people and saw another 251 taken hostage. Terror groups in Gaza continue to hold 55 hostages, including the bodies of at least 33 confirmed dead by the IDF, and 20 who are believed to be alive. There are grave concerns for the well-being of two others, Israeli officials have said.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 54,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 20,000 combatants in battle as of January and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught.

Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.

Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 429. The toll includes two police officers and three Defense Ministry civilian contractors.