GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories, May 29, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Mohammed Sinwar, the mysterious presumed head of Hamas in Gaza who Israel says it has killed, is the latest leader of the Palestinian militant group targeted by the Israeli military.

Mohammed Sinwar is the younger brother of slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar -- accused by Israel of masterminding Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war in Gaza.

Speaking in parliament on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israeli army had "eliminated... Mohammed Sinwar". Asked by AFP for confirmation, Hamas did not respond.

Israeli media had reported he was targeted in Israeli air strikes near the European Hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis on May 13.

At the time, the Israeli military said it struck "Hamas terrorists in a command and control centre located in an underground terrorist infrastructure site beneath the European hospital in Khan Yunis".

Since October 2023, Israel's killing of Hamas's political chief Ismail Haniyeh, the head of its armed wing Mohammed Deif, and Yahya Sinwar, along with a string of other commanders and political figures, has considerably weakened the Islamist movement.

Experts say it is likely that Mohammed Sinwar took over as the acting head of some or all of the armed wing of Hamas, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, after Mohammed Deif was killed in July 2024.

Several researchers report that Sinwar had been the commander of Hamas's brigade in the southern governorate of Khan Yunis since 2005.

The group has remained tight-lipped over the names of its top ranks, particularly the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades.

"The name of the head of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades will remain a secret," a source close to Hamas's armed wing previously told AFP.

- 'The ghost' -

An article by the Wall Street Journal in January reported that Sinwar had taken charge of Hamas upon the death of his brother, contrary to a decision by the movement's Doha-based officials to establish a collective leadership council.

Citing anonymous sources, the US daily said Mohammed Sinwar had helped recruit new fighters and was pushing a hard line in indirect ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas.

Hamas is designated a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union, among others.

Israeli media blame Mohammed Sinwar for the kidnapping of French-Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2006 and say he played a key role in the negotiations with Israel that led to his release in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, including his own brother in 2011.

Sinwar's elusive activities led him to be nicknamed "the shadow" and "the ghost".

He has made almost no public appearances, and several Palestinian media outlets claim he did not attend his father's funeral in January 2022.

Considered one of Israel's most wanted men, Sinwar is reported to have survived several assassination attempts.