A UNIFIL patrol between Ras Naqoura and Labounieh earlier this year. UNIFIL has been targeted by Israel recently. Photo:
UN/Pasqual Gorriz
THE killing of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar in the Gaza Strip marks the start of an end to a year-long war, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu says.
But Iranian officials say Sinwar is a martyr whose vision for Palestine would be carried forward.
The Israeli Defence Forces says in a social media post that on Wednesday (local time) their troops had eliminated Sinwar. Hamas has not confirmed his death.
Netanyahu, in a social media post, says of the killing: “While this is not the end of the war in Gaza, it’s the beginning of the end.”
He earlier called the death an “important landmark in the decline” of Hamas and called for the return of 101 hostages still held in Gaza.
At Berlin Airport, US President Joe Biden says he congratulated Netanyahu on the result of the mission and that they will remain in close contact over coming days, directly and indirectly.
He also told reporters that it is time for Netanyahu to move onto a ceasefire.
“… now is the time to move on — move on, move towards a ceasefire in Gaza, make sure that we move in a direction that we’re going to be in a position to make things better for the whole world,” he says.
“It’s time for this war to end and bring these hostages home and so, that’s what we’re ready to do.”
Biden says he is sending US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Israel to discuss these next steps.
In a social media post, Iran’s Permanent Mission to the UN predicts Sinwar will be seen as a martyr.
“ …. the spirit of resistance will be strengthened,” the post partly read.
“He will become a model for the youth and children who will carry forward his path toward the liberation of Palestine.
“As long as occupation and aggression exist, resistance will endure, for the martyr remains alive and a source of inspiration.”
International news agency AFP reported that Sinwar was the chief of Hamas in Gaza at the time of the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the war.
He became the militant group’s overall leader after the July killing of Ismail Haniyeh.
The October 7 attack, the deadliest in Israeli history, resulted in the deaths of 1206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
Israel’s announcement of Sinwar’s death comes weeks after it assassinated Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in a strike in Lebanon.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed 42,438 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to data from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, AFP says
