The Israeli Air Force diverted fighter jets that were already en route to carry out a mission in Yemen in order to eliminate senior Hamas terrorists Mohammed Sinwar and Mohammed Shabana in a complex strike beneath the European Hospital in Khan Younis, according to new details revealed by a senior Israeli officer.

Col. S., commander of the Air Force’s elite “Nachalat Binyamin” unit responsible for planning air operations across the Middle East, disclosed the details in an interview published by Maariv. The unit played a central role in some of the war’s most significant targeted eliminations and strategic strikes.

According to the report, intelligence received on May 13, 2025, indicated that Mohammed Sinwar, brother of slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, was meeting with Mohammed Shabana, Hamas’s Rafah Brigade commander and the group’s top official in southern Gaza, inside a tunnel running beneath the European Hospital complex in Khan Younis.

The tunnel reportedly stretched beneath the hospital grounds from west to east, with an underground command center located only dozens of meters from the emergency room. One of the tunnel shafts was situated near the hospital’s ambulance area.

Military planners had already prepared contingency strike plans for such a scenario. Once the intelligence was confirmed, a brief operational window opened, and Israeli political leaders approved the mission.

The objective was to destroy everyone inside the tunnel while avoiding damage to patients, medical equipment, and the hospital structure itself. To accomplish this, the Air Force planned a synchronized strike from multiple directions, targeting several points along the tunnel to trigger its collapse.

Because of the urgency of the mission, fighter jets that had already been armed and dispatched for an operation in Yemen were redirected to Gaza. Pilots received a rapid briefing on updated flight paths and attack angles designed to maximize precision and minimize collateral damage.

According to Col. S., the target was destroyed within less than 20 seconds of the strike’s commencement.

Following the attack, Hamas reportedly attempted to send a bulldozer to rescue the trapped terrorists. The rescue effort was quickly thwarted when an Israeli aircraft destroyed the bulldozer. At the same time, forces from the Golani Brigade rapidly secured the area, preventing Hamas from recovering the bodies of the senior terrorists.

Col. S. also revealed new details about operations in Syria following the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. He said the unit moved quickly to implement long-prepared plans targeting Syrian military infrastructure.

“The preparations began years earlier during the campaign between wars,” he said. “While reviewing old attack plans against the Syrian army, we even found strike routes dating back to the Yom Kippur War. We quickly realized the plans needed to be updated.”

According to the commander, once operations began, additional targets were added continuously, allowing Israel to systematically destroy Syria’s military capabilities and prevent advanced weapons from falling into what he described as irresponsible hands.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)