Tunnel and Intense Strikes: The Similarities Between the Killing of Mohammed Al-Sinwar and Hassan Nasrallah
The killing of senior Hamas leader Mohammed Al-Sinwar closely resembles the Israeli operation that led to the death of Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah.
In both cases, Israel used bunker-busting bombs targeting locations in southern Beirut and Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip, respectively.
Furthermore, airstrikes continued to target both sites after the initial explosions, deliberately hindering rescue teams from retrieving those trapped in underground tunnels.
Israeli assessments suggest that both Nasrallah and Al-Sinwar had turned underground tunnels into command centers to evade detection and targeting.
While it was previously confirmed that Hassan Nasrallah died from asphyxiation following the strikes, Israel disclosed for the first time on Tuesday that Mohammed Al-Sinwar also suffocated to death.
According to the Israeli outlet Walla, “Hamas operatives had built an underground network beneath the European Hospital in Khan Younis, with one of the tunnel entrances located directly below the emergency room.”
The report added: “Hamas believed this underground infrastructure would serve as a safe hideout, which is why Al-Sinwar chose to shelter there.”
During the targeted strike, missiles were launched at the tunnel openings, destroying them and blocking all escape routes.
Rescue Attempts Failed
As a result, Mohammed Al-Sinwar and Mohammed Shabana – commander of the Rafah Brigade of Hamas’s military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades – were trapped inside the tunnels, which were filled with toxic gases following the missile strikes and subsequent explosions.
According to Walla, “Estimates indicate that Al-Sinwar, Shabana, and Mahdi Kawaraa, commander of the southern Khan Younis battalion, all died from asphyxiation.”
Even when Palestinians tried to rescue them using heavy engineering equipment—much like the attempts made to save Nasrallah—Israel’s air force continued to strike the area, thwarting all rescue operations.
Security sources claim that Hamas appointed successors for each eliminated senior figure. However, the cumulative loss of leaders such as Yahya Al-Sinwar, Mohammed Deif, Marwan Issa, and Mohammed Al-Sinwar has created a significant vacuum in the organization’s operational leadership, severely impairing the movement’s overall effectiveness.
