US president joins western leaders in urging Israeli PM to seek end to war, as Iran suggests death inspires future generations and Hezbollah vows escalation
Joe Biden has urged Israel’s prime minister to “move on” and make progress towards a ceasefire in Gaza after the killing of Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader and mastermind of the 7 October attack, as world leaders renewed a push for an end to the conflict.
Hours after the killing on Thursday in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost town, the US president congratulated Benjamin Netanyahu, saying Sinwar “has a lot of blood on his hands – American blood, Israeli blood, and others”.
Speaking as he arrived in Germany to meet European leaders, Biden said he felt “more hopeful” about the prospects of a ceasefire and would send the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, to Israel in the next four or five days.
Biden joined figures including his vice-president, Kamala Harris, the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, in urging progress towards a ceasefire.
Blinken held separate phone calls on Thursday with the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, and the Qatari prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, on ending the conflict in the Middle East, the US state department said.
The push came as Iran’s mission to the UN said the killing would strengthen the “spirit of resistance” and inspire future generations, while Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed group in Lebanon, announced “the transition to a new and escalating phase in the confrontation with Israel”.
At time of writing, Hamas was yet to comment on the death of its leader.
In a TV address, Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, described Sinwar’s death as the “beginning of the end” but added that Israel must “stand firm on our ground” and “continue to fight”.
“We have demonstrated today that all those who try to harm us, this is what happens to them,” Netanyahu said.
