The Israeli army says it has retrieved the body of Hamas' military chief Mohammed Sinwar in an underground tunnel beneath a southern Gaza hospital, following a targeted operation last month.

Other militants were also found dead there, including another senior Hamas leader who commanded the Rafah Brigade, according to Israel Defense Force spokesperson Effie Defrin.

"You can see the very big hole in the ground right in front of it. This is the entrance we opened for a very big command-and-control compound—Hamas command-and-control compound."

Defrin took several foreign reporters to tour the tunnel on Sunday, under the European Hospital in Khan Younis.

"We found underneath the hospital, right under the emergency room, a compound of a few rooms. In one of them we found, we killed Mohammed Sinwar."

::Israeli army

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Sinwar's death last month, but Defrin said they now had his DNA that proved beyond doubt it was him.

His older brother Yahya Sinwar, who was the mastermind behind the October 2023 attack on Israel, was killed in a strike last year, according to Israeli forces.

The Israeli army released videos of its operations.

Reuters was able to verify the location of the exterior footage, but not the interior, or the date it was shot.

Hamas has not commented on reports of the deaths of either Sinwar, or the Rafah commander.

The army said the concrete tunnel was used as a hideaway by Hamas fighters.

And that its forces found weapon stockpiles, ammunition, cash and documents that are now being reviewed for intelligence value.

Defrin said the tunnel showed how Hamas uses hospitals to conceal fighters and orchestrate operations -- a charge the militant group has denied.

Israeli military has raided or besieged numerous hospitals during the war, saying it was targeting Hamas operations.

Defrin said the army had carefully planned the strike outside the European Hospital to not damage it.

Though the Gaza health ministry had reported that missiles struck the building.