Israel PM: Hamas chief’s death ‘beginning of Gaza war’s end’

JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that the killing of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar in the Gaza Strip was the “beginning of the end” of the year-long war in the Palestinian territory.

Netanyahu, who vowed to crush Hamas at the start of the war, hailed Sinwar’s killing, saying: “While this is not the end of the war in Gaza, it’s the beginning of the end.”

United States President Joe Biden, whose government is Israel’s top arms provider, said: “This is a good day for Israel, for the United States, and for the world.”

“There is now the opportunity for a ‘day after’ in Gaza without Hamas in power, and for a political settlement that provides a better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike.”

Israeli military chief Herzi Halevi, however, vowed the military would keep fighting “until we capture all the terrorists involved in the 7 October massacre and bring all the hostages home.”

The Israel military also said Friday it was pressing its operation in Jabalia, one of the focuses of the Gaza fighting in recent weeks, and where strikes on Thursday killed at least 14 people, according to two hospitals.

The Israeli military said that after a lengthy hunt, troops had on Wednesday “eliminated Yahya Sinwar, the leader of the Hamas terrorist organization, in an operation in the southern Gaza Strip.”

Hamas has not confirmed his death.

The chief of Hamas in Gaza at the time of the 7 October attack that sparked the war, Sinwar became the militant group’s overall leader after the killing in July of its political chief, Ismail Haniyeh.

He is said to have masterminded the 7 October attack, the deadliest in Israeli history, which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an Agence France-Presse tally of official Israeli figures that includes hostages killed in captivity.

Israel’s announcement of Sinwar’s death comes weeks after it assassinated Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in a strike in Lebanon, where the Israeli military has been at war since late September.