Many leaders of Western countries commented on Israel’s announcement of the killing of the head of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), Yahya Sinwar, considering this an opportunity to end the war in the Gaza Strip and release Israeli prisoners.
Yesterday, Thursday, US President Joe Biden welcomed Israel’s announcement of Sinwar’s killing as “a good day for Israel, the United States, and the world.”
Biden believed that his killing removed a fundamental obstacle to reaching a ceasefire in Gaza and releasing prisoners detained in the Strip.
Biden said in a statement, “This is a good day for Israel, for the United States, and for the world. The opportunity is now ripe for the next day in Gaza without Hamas in power, and to reach a political settlement that provides a better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike.”
Biden called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to congratulate him on the killing of Sinwar, and he also announced that he would send his Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, to Israel within 4 or 5 days.
The US President indicated in his statement that he had ordered the US intelligence services after the Al-Aqsa flood attack on October 7, 2023, to assist Israeli intelligence in “locating Sinwar and other Hamas leaders and tracking them down.”
But National Security Advisor Jack Sullivan stressed that the United States had no role in the killing of Sinwar, and told reporters accompanying the US President, “This was an Israeli army operation.”
For her part, Kamala Harris, US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate, said that Sinwar’s killing constitutes “an opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza.”
She added from Milwaukee (north) that “this war must end so that Israel is safe, so that the hostages are liberated, so that the suffering in Gaza ends, and so that the Palestinian people can exercise their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination.”
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin also said on Thursday that the killing of Sinwar “is a major achievement that represents an exceptional opportunity to end this horrific war between Israel and Hamas,” as he described it.
European position
In the same context, French President Emmanuel Macron considered the killing of Sinwar a “turning point” and a “military success for Israel,” and said on the X platform, “This opportunity must be seized to liberate all Israeli prisoners and finally end the war.”
For his part, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that his country “will not cry” over the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, “the mastermind of the bloodiest days in Jewish history since the Holocaust,” as he put it, stressing that he is thinking “of the families of the victims of the October 7 attack.” the first”.
Starmer added – in a statement – that he calls for “the release of all hostages, an immediate ceasefire, and an increase in humanitarian aid” in the Gaza Strip “so that we can move towards lasting peace in the Middle East.”
German Chancellor Olaf Schulz commented on Sinwar’s killing, saying, “The extremist committed the worst crimes in the brutal and inhumane attack launched by Hamas on Israeli citizens who were killed, raped, and humiliated in the most horrific ways. Sinwar is responsible for that,” according to his description.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said – in a statement – that “with the killing of Yahya Al-Sinwar, the primary person responsible for the October 7 massacre no longer exists.”
She stressed the importance of inaugurating a new phase, liberating Israeli prisoners, announcing an immediate ceasefire, and rebuilding the Gaza Strip.
In turn, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that Sinwar “was an obstacle to an urgent ceasefire and the unconditional release of all hostages.”
He added on the
The Israeli army confirmed that Sinwar, whom Tel Aviv considers the architect of the October 7, 2023 attack on its south, was killed on Wednesday after a chase that lasted nearly a year.