US, UK, Iran, others react to Israel claims of killing Hamas leader Sinwar in Gaza

Israel has said its forces have killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in an attack in the southern Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military on Thursday announced Sinwar’s death, but there has been no comment from Hamas.

According to the Israeli military statement, Sinwar was killed on Wednesday after soldiers “eliminated three fighters”.

In August, Hamas appointed its Gaza leader, Sinwar, as the group’s political bureau head to succeed Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated during a visit to Iran on July 31.

Here are some reactions:

Israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel has “settled its account” with Sinwar but the “war is not yet ended”.

Netanyahu said in televised remarks that “light is prevailing over darkness” in the region and that Sinwar’s death is an “important landmark” in the decline of the group.

Hamas will no longer rule Gaza, he said.

Foreign Minister Israel Katz called Sinwar’s killing a “military and moral achievement for the Israeli army”, while Benny Gantz, chairman of Israel’s National Unity Party, congratulated the Israeli military.

“This is an important achievement with a clear message – we will pursue our enemies to the end, anytime and anywhere,” Gantz wrote on social media platform X.

He said the Israeli military “will continue to operate in the Gaza Strip for years to come, and now the series of achievements and the elimination of Sinwar must be taken advantage of to bring about the return of the abductees and the replacement of Hamas’s rule”.

Yahya Sinwar is the first Palestinian political commander to be killed on the battlefield since 1948, when renowned Palestinian national fighter Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni was killed in a gun battle with the Haghanah near Jerusalem. pic.twitter.com/o9Vu6rIG3v

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) October 18, 2024

Families of Israeli captives

Israeli campaign group, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, welcomed the Israeli army’s statement, saying Sinwar’s death should help “secure” the release of captives still in Gaza.

The forum “welcomes Yahya Sinwar’s elimination and urges leveraging this major achievement to secure hostages’ return”, it said in a statement.

President Joe Biden said Sinwar’s death marks a moment of relief for Israelis while providing the opportunity for a “day after” in Gaza without the group in power.

“Yahya Sinwar was an insurmountable obstacle to achieving all of those goals. That obstacle no longer exists. But much work remains before us,” Biden said in a statement.

“I will be speaking soon with Prime Minister Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders to congratulate them, to discuss the pathway for bringing the hostages home to their families, and for ending this war once and for all, which has caused so much devastation to innocent people,” Biden said.

Vice President Kamala Harris hailed Sinwar’s death and said it is a chance to “finally end the war in Gaza”.

“Justice has been served,” Harris told reporters. “Sinwar was responsible for the killing of thousands of innocent people, including the victims of October 7 and hostages killed in Gaza.

“Today I can only hope that the families of the victims of Hamas feel a sense and measure of relief,” she added.

Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, also applauded Israel’s claim that Sinwar has been killed, saying his death had brought “relief” to the people of Israel.

“Sinwar’s life was the embodiment of evil and marked by hatred for all that is good in the world,” Johnson said in a statement. “His death brings hope for all those who seek to live in freedom, and relief to Israelis he has sought to oppress.”

Let us not forget: It's hasnt been about Sinwar or Hamas, and never about October 7th or the hostages. It is about a 80-year history of ethnic cleansing and land grabbing. pic.twitter.com/9WTNUUvL5t

— Dr. Mustafa Elmasri (@Gaza_Psych) October 17, 2024

Iran

The country’s mission to the United Nations said the final moments of Sinwar will be a model for resistance to Israel.

“When Muslims look up to the Martyr Sinwar standing on the battlefield – in combat attire and out in the open, not in a hideout, facing the enemy – the spirit of resistance will be strengthened,” the mission wrote in a post on X.

“He will become a model for the youth and children who will carry forward his path towards the liberation of Palestine,” it said, adding that “as long as occupation and aggression exist, resistance will endure, for the martyr remains alive and a source of inspiration.”

European Union

Josep Borrell, the 27-nation bloc’s foreign policy chief, described Sinwar as “an obstacle to an urgently needed ceasefire and the unconditional release of all hostages”.

“Yahya Sinwar was a terrorist, listed by the EU, responsible for the heinous 7/10 attack,” he wrote on X.

“There must be an end to violence, liberation of hostages [and] stop to the suffering of Palestinians.”

“The greatest gift the enemy and the occupation can give me is to assassinate me”

Hamas political bureau chief Yahya Sinwar, who was killed by Israel on October 17 in Palestine’s Gaza, had previously stated in 2021 that he would welcome an Israeli assassination attempt with open… pic.twitter.com/QDtRV3CI5v

— TRT World (@trtworld) October 18, 2024

Germany

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, in a statement, branded Sinwar “a cruel murderer and a terrorist”.

She said Hamas should “immediately release all the hostages” and “lay down its arms”.

France

President Emmanuel Macron said Sinwar “was the main person responsible for the terrorist attacks and barbaric acts of October 7”.

“France demands the release of all hostages still held by Hamas,” Macron posted on X.

NATO

Secretary-General Mark Rutte told reporters at a Brussels news conference that “if he has died, I personally will not miss him,” referring to Sinwar.

Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, fought the Israeli army until his last breath. Here is a brief background of the deceased Palestinian commander. pic.twitter.com/Wfu5EdECGu

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) October 18, 2024

Italy

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said “with the death of Yahya Sinwar, the person principally responsible for the October 7 attacks no longer exists.”

“I am convinced that a new phase should be launched: it is time for all the hostages to be released, for a ceasefire to be immediately proclaimed and for the reconstruction of Gaza to begin.”

United Kingdom

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the United Kingdom “will not mourn” the death of Sinwar.

Starmer condemned the mastermind of the October 7 attacks and said his thoughts were with the families of the victims.

“The release of all hostages, an immediate ceasefire and an increase in humanitarian aid are long overdue so we can move towards a long-term, sustainable peace in the Middle East,” he added.

Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies

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