World
Sinwar's ruthless brother Mohammed slated to take over as leader of Hamas
Israeli officials believe Mohammed Sinwar, brother of former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar killed Wednesday, could be next in line for the top job, multiple Israeli media outlets reported on Friday.
Fox News Digital could not immediately reach the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment on the possible next head of the terrorist organization plaguing the Gaza Strip, but according to outlets citing the IDF, the younger brother is expected to take over political responsibilities for Hamas.
Mohammed Sinwar, 13 years younger than his notorious brother Yahya Sinwar, was born in the Khan Younis refugee camp in 1975 after his family was originally displaced following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
Growing up in the shadow of one of the founders of Hamas and his subsequent arrest in 1991 over suspected terrorist activities, enabled Mohammed Sinwar to form close ties with top officials in the terrorist organization that remain alive today, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Mohammed Sinwar seen traveling in a car inside a Hamas terror tunnel near the Erez Crossing in the Gaza Strip. The footage was obtained by IDF troops in the Gaza Strip and was checked by the IDF Intelligence Directorate. (IDF Spokesman’s Unit)
WHO WAS YAHYA SINWAR? THE ISRAELI PRISONER TURNED TERRORIST HAMAS LEADER KILLED BY IDF TROOPS
Despite the public’s relatively little knowledge of the younger Sinwar, his operational experience in Hamas allegedly made him one of the IDF’s most targeted terrorists of the group.
“You won’t find a key event in Hamas’s military buildup over the past 25 years in which Mohammed Sinwar wasn’t involved,” one military source told the Jerusalem Post.
Israeli security officials reportedly said that Mohammed Sinwar is believed to be even more ruthless than his better-known older brother. Describing him as an “arch-terrorist” and pointing to his direct involvement in the torturous interrogations and deaths of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in an attempt to gain knowledge of how the IDF and Shin Bet – Israel’s security agency – operate.
“No one in Hamas understands Israel’s covert operational patterns better than him. He conducted all the interrogations himself, learning everything from start to finish,” one official told the media outlet.
IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi speaks with troops at the location with Hama leader Yahya Sinwar was killed. (Israel Defense Forces)
But despite concerns over the ruthless tendencies of the expected new Hamas leader, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Friday said the death of Yahya Sinwar could be an “extraordinary opportunity to achieve a lasting ceasefire.”
“We’ll see how things evolve,” he said from a NATO summit in Brussels when asked about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s vow to continue fighting in Gaza. “But clearly there are opportunities for a change in direction, and we would hope that, you know, parties would take advantage of that, both in Lebanon [and] in Gaza.”
But despite Austin’s hopeful tone and a meeting reportedly to be held Friday by Netanyahu on the 101 hostages still in Gaza, Hamas has said that the hostages will not be exchanged until Israel stops its offensive.
Israeli reports also suggested that the IDF does not believe the threat posed by Hamas will be effectively eliminated until Hama’s hierarchical structure is eliminated.
Prior to his new role, Yahya Sinwar, shown here second from right in Gaza City in December 2022, was Hamas’ leader in Gaza. (Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
HAMAS ADMITS ‘PAINFUL, DISTRESSING’ LOSSES AFTER ISRAELI VIDEO SHOWS TERRORIST SINWAR MOMENTS BEFORE HIS DEATH
While Mohammed Sinwar is expected to take over as the next leader of Hamas, the remainder of other top officials in the terrorist organization mean that the group continues to pose a threat.
Khalil Al-Hayya, who led the indirect ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel and was reportedly in Tehran when longtime Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in July, also served as Yahya Sinwar’s deputy and is believed to remain a major player in the terrorist organization.
Khaled Meshaal, who led Hamas between 2004 and 2017 and now resides in Qatar according to Reuters, was listed as an official potentially under consideration following the assassination of Haniyeh, though a report in August suggested that the oldest Sinwar brother was opposed to his reappointment to the top job.
A drone video released by the Israeli military shows Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar sitting on a chair in a damaged building in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, in the moments leading up to his death. (IDF)
Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior official in Hamas and one of the group’s founders, was also assessed to be on the short list for the top job after Yahya Sinwar was killed. He reportedly survived two assassination attempts in 1992 and 2003, though Reuters has said that he has not been seen since the October 7, 2023 attacks.
Mohammad Shabana remains one of the most senior veteran commanders in the terrorist groups and reportedly heads a battalion in Rafah. He also played a significant role in developing the tunnels used to attack Israel during the 2006 conflict.
Several other officials were detailed in reporting by Reuters as top Hamas officials who would be critical in dismantling the terrorist network, though neither their whereabouts nor their deaths have been officially confirmed by Hamas.
Pope Leo XIV left the Canary Islands for Rome on Friday in a Falcon plane offered by Spanish King Felipe VI after his original aircraft suffered a technical glitch, according to reporters at the scene.
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The flight took off just after 6:00 pm and is expected to arrive in Rome at around 11:00 pm. The pope wrapped up a week-long visit to Spain on Friday.
The pontiff’s departure from Tenerife was delayed earlier on Friday by a technical problem with the plane which led him to disembark, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.
Spain’s King Felipe VI, who had just said goodbye to the pontiff on the runway, boarded the Iberia airline plane and both disembarked and returned to the terminal.
About 80 journalists remained on the jet, along with Vatican officials and members of the clergy.
“The departure of the papal flight has been delayed by half an hour due to a technical problem with the aircraft,” the communications service for the papal trip in Spain said in a brief statement.
The pilot initially told passengers there was a technical fault but later specified a “startup failure of the engine,” which he said was likely caused by wind conditions.
“Our maintenance team suggests towing the aircraft, positioning it into the wind, and attempting a new engine start,” the pilot told those on board.
“We will try this. If it is successful, we can depart.”
The glitch marked an unusual end to an otherwise successful trip to Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands.
Pope Leo XIV pressed his migration message and also inaugurated the new tower of the Sagrada Familia basilica.
It was the first time in decades that a papal flight had experienced a problem so serious that it required the pope to change planes.
Veteran Vatican reporters, some of whom were on the Iberia plane, recalled a few plane-related incidents during the pontificate of St. John Paul II.
During a 1986 return trip from India, John Paul II’s plane was forced to land in Naples because of a snowstorm in Rome. The passengers and pope took a special train back to Rome.
In 1988 en route to Lesotho, bad weather forced the late pope’s plane to land in South Africa, a country he had excluded from his African trip at the time because of apartheid. He was later driven into the kingdom.
Typically on papal trips, the Italian national carrier ITA Airways brings the pope to his destination and that country’s national carrier brings him home, with ITA sometimes doing the round trip if the voyage is particularly long or to a place that doesn’t have the capacity.
The flights are charters, with the pope, Vatican delegation and security occupying the front of the plane and the 70 or so journalists seated in coach.
Iberia had proudly provided video earlier in the trip of Pope Leo XIV seated in the cockpit, smiling broadly as the plane carried him from Madrid to Barcelona and then Barcelona to the Canary Islands.
In both cases, Spanish military aircraft provided an airborne escort, a sign of respect for visiting dignitaries and in one clip of the video the pope is seen waving to the escorting pilot.
Additional sources • AP, AFP
World
War, latest news. Trump: agreement with Iran to be signed soon. Tehran media: approval likely from top officials
Oxfam: ‘Over 540 settler attacks in the West Bank in the first few months of 2026’
A new analysis by Oxfam highlights the exponential rise in attacks by Israeli settlers and military forces in the occupied West Bank: in the first few months of 2026 alone, there were over 540 incidents and “in three years, the number of Palestinian civilians killed has exceeded that of the previous 17 years”, mainly children. According to the report, based on an analysis of data provided by the United Nations, “it is clear that Israel’s annexation plan is accelerating, with mass forced displacements, increased restrictions on Palestinians’ freedom of movement and an unprecedented escalation of violence by settlers and the army”. A plan of ethnic cleansing and annexation that, since 2023, has caused over 46,000 people to be displaced, the construction of over 925 barriers that impede the movement of 3 million people, and an unprecedented wave of violence that has claimed over 1,200 lives, including nearly 270 children. In particular, between 2006 and 2022, Oxfam points out, there were 1,036 victims, including 225 children, whilst since 2023 alone, 1,244 have been recorded, with 268 children killed. This means that, over the last 20 years, one in five killings involved a child, around 22 per cent. By contrast, in the first 17 years under review, 86 Israeli settlers were killed by Palestinians, including 12 children, whilst there were 43 victims, including 10 children, between 2023 and 2025. “The massacre of civilians we are witnessing is painful and disturbing,” said Paolo Pezzati, spokesperson for humanitarian crises at Oxfam Italia – “Whilst the eyes of the world were rightly focused on the genocide committed by Israel in Gaza, following the atrocities committed by Hamas and other armed groups in 2023, an unprecedented wave of violence was unfolding across the West Bank, which has now escalated into a systematic plan of ethnic cleansing. In this context, we are therefore launching an urgent appeal for all necessary diplomatic pressure to be brought to bear on Israel to halt the ongoing annexation plan,” concludes Pezzati.
US: third Iranian oil tanker breaching the blockade neutralised
The US Central Command stated on X that it had intercepted an oil tanker, the third in a week, accused of violating the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. US Central Command says it struck the M/T Jalveer, flying the flag of Guinea-Bissau, “as it attempted to transport oil from Iran through the Gulf of Oman”. “A US aircraft fired two Hellfire missiles at the ship’s engine room after the crew repeatedly refused to obey orders from US forces,” Centcom said.
Meloni: the Council should reflect on the direction of relations between the EU and Israel
“Not only because of what is happening in Lebanon, but also given the situation in Gaza and the West Bank, it is clear that the European Council will need to reflect on the direction of relations between the European Union and Israel.” This was stated by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in the Chamber of Deputies, in her address ahead of the EU Council meeting. “On this,” she added, “I would like, for once, to see a debate here that goes beyond the emphasis on facile polemics, which certainly yields an immediate return in terms of visibility, but does not reflect the strategic importance that the issue holds for Italia.”
World
Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol sentenced to 30 years over North Korea drone flights
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A South Korean court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to 30 years in prison Friday in a case that accused him of ordering drone flights over North Korea in an effort to justify his declaration of martial law.
Yoon, 65, was sentenced alongside former Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun by the Seoul Central District Court.
The ousted president was previously sentenced to life in prison for leading an insurrection following his declaration of martial law in December 2024.
North Korea accused South Korea of flying drones over Pyongyang to drop propaganda leaflets on three occasions in October 2024.
SOUTH KOREAN LAWMAKERS SUPPORT SUSPENDING PRESIDENT’S POWERS AFTER SHORT-LIVED MARTIAL LAW DECLARATION
South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol attends a hearing of his impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court in Seoul on Feb. 11, 2025. (Lee Jin-man/AP)
Then-Defense Minister Kim initially issued a vague denial before South Korea’s Defense Ministry said it could neither confirm nor deny the allegations.
Although tensions between the two Koreas escalated following the incident, the drone flights did not lead to any military clashes.
Prosecutors accused Yoon of attempting to create a crisis with North Korea while plotting an authoritarian power grab aimed at removing political opponents and consolidating control.
SOUTH KOREAN COURT RULES EX‑PRESIDENT YOON SUK YEOL GUILTY IN INSURRECTION TRIAL
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol stage a rally outside the Seoul High Court in Seoul on April 29, 2026. (Ahn Young-joon/AP)
Before declaring martial law, Yoon delivered a televised address accusing liberal lawmakers of sympathizing with North Korea.
Yoon has argued that he possessed the constitutional authority to declare martial law and said the move was intended to draw attention to what he viewed as obstruction by opposition parties.
His attempt to impose martial law lasted roughly six hours before lawmakers voted to overturn it amid mass public protests.
Yoon was arrested in July 2025 and continues to face multiple criminal proceedings.
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South Korea’s ousted former President Yoon Suk Yeol arrives at Seoul Central District Court in Seoul to attend his trial on charges related to declaring martial law on Dec. 3, 2025. (Ahn Young-joon/AP)
The insurrection verdict has been appealed by both Yoon and prosecutors, who had sought the death penalty.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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