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Mohamed Sinwar’s death comes seven months after his brother Yahya was killed in an Israeli mission in Rafah. The Sinwar brothers’ story has now ended. But central to their story is an audacious operation

On May 13, Israeli forces struck an underground facility beneath the European Hospital in Gaza’s Khan Younis. The Israeli military claimed it had targeted a senior Hamas command node. Days later, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told parliament that the military had “eliminated” Mohammed Sinwar, the younger brother of ex-Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. 

Hamas has not confirmed his death, and no official obituary or funeral has been held. That silence has raised speculation about his status, though Palestinian sources close to the group believe he was indeed killed in the strike.

Mohamed’s death comes seven months after Yahya was killed in an Israeli mission in Rafah in October last year. The Sinwar brothers’ story has now ended. Central to their story is an audacious operation: the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier that eventually secured the release of over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, including Yahya himself.

The Making Of A Militant 

Yahya Sinwar was born in 1962 in the Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza, the eldest of several brothers in a family displaced during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. His younger brother, Mohammed, was born in 1975 in the same camp. Raised under occupation, shaped by deprivation, and radicalised through Israel’s repeated military incursions into Gaza, both brothers would rise through the ranks of Hamas, albeit in different spheres: Yahya in politics, Mohammed in the military.

While Yahya was known for his strategic mind and political ambition, Mohammed remained largely in the shadows, emerging as a field commander in Hamas’s military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades.

Captive Becomes Bargaining Chip

On June 25, 2006, three Palestinian militant groups launched a cross-border raid from Gaza into Israel near the Kerem Shalom checkpoint. Two Israeli soldiers were killed, and a third, 19-year-old Corporal Gilad Shalit, was taken prisoner.

Among those behind the operation, Israeli media and military analysts later said, was Mohammed Sinwar, who is believed to have helped plan and command the raid. The attackers used a tunnel to infiltrate Israel and returned with Shalit alive.

Yahya Sinwar, imprisoned by Israel since 1988, was a key name on Hamas’s internal list of demands.

The capture of Shalit triggered immediate Israeli military operations across Gaza. Israel arrested dozens of Hamas political leaders and launched airstrikes targeting the group’s infrastructure. Yet, despite international pressure and repeated military efforts, Hamas maintained control over Shalit’s whereabouts, denying Red Cross access and revealing only minimal information about his condition.

By April 2025, American political news publication Politico cited sources close to Trump and said Musk would step back from his DOGE role “in the coming weeks”.

Musk and Trump’s partnership seems to have ended after the Tesla boss quit the Department of Government Efficiency, citing disappointment over the President’s budget bill.

The “bulls**t artist” and the man who “doesn’t seem to have the sort of character that reflects well on the United States” are no longer friends, or at least they don’t work together anymore.

For, you see, billionaire Elon Musk, who bankrolled President Donald Trump – to the tune of nearly US$300 million – to a second term in the White House, has walked away from his ‘job’ at the Department of Government Efficiency.

The ‘bromance for the ages’ – that cheeky description offered by British publication Independent in December last year – seemed to unravel after Musk’s public criticism of Trump’s ‘one, big beautiful’ bill.

He said “my time has come to an end” and that he was “disappointed” at the President championing a bill “… which increases the budget deficit… and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing”.

Satyaki Savarkar, grandnephew of Hindutva icon Vinayak Savarkar, has filed a complaint against Rahul Gandhi for alleged remarks in March 2023

Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has claimed that Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Savarkar was a relative of Mahatma Gandhi’s killer, Nathuram Godse. Mr Gandhi has said this in an affidavit filed in a Pune court after Savarkar’s grandnephew sued the Congress leader for defamation. Mr Gandhi has accused Satyaki Savarkar of deliberately concealing his maternal lineage that links him to Godse.

Satyaki Savarkar said in his complaint against Mr Gandhi that he is a grandson of Savarkar’s brother Narayan Savarkar.

“As per information, mother of complainant Smt. Himani Ashok Savarkar was born on 31/03/1947 and died on 11/10/2015 at Pune. Late Smt. Himani Ashok Savarkar is daughter of Gopal Vinayak Godse, younger brother of Nathuram Vinayak Godse, who killed father of nation Mahatma Gandhi on 30/01/1948 and was hanged along with his accomplice Narayan Apte On 15/11/1949,” Mr Gandhi has said in his affidavit. Himani Savarkar, the affidavit says, was a Hindutva activist and married to Ashok Savarkar, nephew of Vinayak Savarkar.

The affidavit points out that Vinayak Savarkar was a co-accused in the Gandhi assassination case, but was acquitted. “The grandfather of complainant Gopal Godse was also convicted accused in murder of Mahatma Gandhi. These are the historical(ly) important facts and movements behind this case,” the affidavit says, adding that the complainant’s maternal family tree is important.

Pawan Khera has posted a photograph of a highlighted passage from Shashi Tharoor’s book after the latter’s post on X against “critics and trolls”

Shashi Tharoor’s relationship with Congress is strained after his remarks on surgical strikes drew criticism from party leaders. Pawan Khera and Jairam Ramesh highlighted Mr Tharoor’s comments, signaling displeasure.

In a clear sign that Shashi Tharoor’s ties with the Congress may be at a crossroads, senior party leader Pawan Khera has responded to the Thiruvananthapuram MP’s “critics and trolls” post with a passage from his book ‘The Paradoxical Prime Minister: Narendra Modi and His India’.

Mr Khera has posted a photograph of a highlighted passage. Here, Mr Tharoor has accused the Narendra Modi government of “repeatedly using the army in its political propaganda”. “The shameless exploitation of the 2016 surgical strikes’ along the Line of Control with Pakistan, and of a military raid in hot pursuit of rebels in Myanmar, as party election tool-something the Congress had never done despite having authorized several such strikes earlier-marked particularly disgraceful dilution of the principle that national Security issues require both discretion and non-partisanship,” he has written.

According to the IAF chief, delays have affected several key projects, including the Tejas Mk1A fighter aircraft, which remains undelivered despite a high-value contract signed over three years ago.

India’s Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh has raised concerns over delays in major defence procurement projects. Speaking at an official event, the Air Chief said, “Many times, we know while signing contracts that those systems will never come. Timelines are a big issue. Not a single project I can think of is completed on time. Why should we promise something that cannot be achieved?”

The Air Chief pointed to multiple cases of delayed defence systems, particularly those involving indigenous projects. Citing the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) programme, the Air Chief said deliveries of the Tejas Mk1A fighter jet – covered under a Rs 48,000 crore contract with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) signed in February 2021 – remain stalled, with none of the 83 ordered aircraft delivered so far. Delivery was initially scheduled to begin in March 2024.

According to the IAF chief, delays have affected several key projects, including the Tejas Mk1A fighter aircraft, which remains undelivered despite a high-value contract signed over three years ago. “Deliveries of Tejas Mk1 are delayed. The prototype of Tejas Mk2 is yet to roll out. There is no prototype yet of the stealth AMCA fighter,” Air Chief Marshal Singh said, addressing the CII Annual Business Summit, where Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was also present.

The remarks come as the IAF pushes for faster indigenisation and domestic capability under the government’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative. “We cannot just talk about producing in India, we need to talk about designing. We need to have trust between the forces and industry. We need to be very open. Once we have committed to something, we should deliver. Air Force is trying to do its best to make in India,” he added. 

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