‘Suffocated to death’ – IDF reveals Hamas tunnel where Mohammed Sinwar died

The Israel Defense Forces on Sunday revealed a trove of new details and documentation about Hamas’ command center under the European Hospital in Khan Younis, where Mohammed Sinwar, the group’s last high-profile leader in the enclave, most likely suffocated to death following Israeli airstrikes some weeks ago.

IDF troops reached the underground compound in the past days, amid their advance on the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, and found about a dozen bodies, including one that was identified as Sinwar.

Standing in the compound, IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Effie Defrin highlighted the “cynical use by Hamas of civilian infrastructure, a hospital, instead of helping people, to cause death and murder – we will continue to pursue them, until the last of them, and until achieving the goals of the war.”

Despite being hidden partly underneath the hospital, the IDF’s massive strikes, which destroyed the complex and produced toxic gas that slowly suffocated and killed Sinwar and several other commanders, did not disrupt hospital operations, according to The Jerusalem Post.

The hospital had been largely funded by donations from European countries. “You can see here where the European aid money went, where it ended up – digging terror infrastructure,” Defrin said.

He added that the complex was one of several that were used to direct the Oct. 7 invasion and massacre.

“I am in the room where Sinwar and Sha’abaneh stayed, the head of the murderous terror organization Hamas and the commander of the Rafah Brigade. They were in this room when they were attacked by the IDF’s aircraft about a month ago. We can now say with certainty that Sinwar stayed here and found his death here. We will continue to pursue them, until the last of them, and until achieving the goals of the war.”

Defrin also praised the fighters from the Golani Brigade and the Yahalom engineering commando unit who raided the compound over the past several days.

After locating the entrances to the underground complex, soldiers uncovered cash, weapons, and other materials that will aid Israeli intelligence in better understanding the terror group.

“You can see here the amounts of money we found, and of course, it’s not for the use of the population, but for use for terror purposes. We found many weapons here,” Defrin said.

The hospital site is only a 15-minute drive from the Israeli border, and right behind it, Kibbutz Sufa.

According to documentation released by the military, the underground command room where Sinwar was killed was located near the entrance to the ER room, some 20 meters away and 7 meters underground.

The entire route stretches for hundreds of meters beneath the entire hospital and includes other rooms like kitchens and sleeping quarters.

Israeli soldiers dug a vast pit next to the ER entrance to reveal the tunnel, allowing several Israeli and international journalists to tour the site on Sunday.

Speaking with Ynet News, a commander in the Golani reconnaissance unit said: “We had to enter the hospital after in-depth intelligence research, which revealed that there is a very significant terrain outline here. Basically, they told us, ‘Hamas is hiding things here underground and we need to get there.’ This has many meanings. It’s a surgical operation, precise.”

“At first we raided the hospital, went over the above-ground area and understood that everything we were looking for is underground – and then we found the senior commanders’ room.”

Rejecting the torrent of international criticism of Israel’s war tactics in recent days, the commander stressed that the intelligence research revealing the underground complex was done without interfering with the hospital’s operations.

“We didn’t touch the hospital until we understood we had to get to it, and a precise force was needed. A hospital is something that brings life and saves lives, but directly under the emergency room, there’s a death machine and a death room. They did this under the cover of the hospital. So to those who ask questions – that’s the answer.”

“Hamas murders its people and slaughters its own,” Defrin concluded.

“We, unlike Hamas, feed the population and distribute thousands of food portions daily. We operate in a way that has a purpose and has a method. The purpose is the return of the hostages first and foremost, and the toppling of Hamas rule. We will not live with Hamas on the day after.”