Israeli army says it also killed al-Sinwar's bodyguard

The Israeli military said on Friday that it has killed the bodyguard of the late Hamas leader Yehya al-Sinwar.

They reported that Mahmoud Hamdan was taken out during a clash with Israeli troops in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. He died on Friday just 200 metres away from the spot where the Israeli military killed al-Sinwar on Wednesday, the army said.

Hamdan was a commander of the Hamas battalion in Rafah's Tal al-Sultan neighbourhood. He had served as al-Sinwar's bodyguard in a house in Tal al-Sultan just before al-Sinwar's death.

Hamdan was also responsible for guarding the six Israeli hostages who were murdered by his men in August, the Israeli army said. The Israeli military found their bodies in a tunnel under Rafah, where it also stumbled upon DNA traces of al-Sinwar.

The Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement has not yet confirmed Hamdan's death.