Harris says death of Yahya Sinwar is chance to finally end Israel-Gaza war
Kamala Harris has hailed the death of Yahya Sinwar as an opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza and prepare for “the day after” when Hamas no longer dominated the territory.
The US vice-president and Democratic nominee said “justice has been served” with the death of the Hamas leader, adding that the US, Israel and the wider world were “better off as a result”.
“Hamas is decimated and its leadership is eliminated,” she said. “This moment gives us an opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza.” The end of the conflict had to be accompanied by security for Israel, the release of the remaining hostages and an end to suffering in Gaza, she said.
She also hinted at her support for Palestinian statehood by saying it should herald Palestinians’ rights to “dignity, security, freedom and self-determination”.
Her comments chimed with those of Joe Biden, who has been criticised by progressives for unstinting support for Israel even while Netanyahu had ignored his entreaties to avoid civilian casualties and ease humanitarian suffering in the tiny coastal territory.
“Israel has had every right to eliminate the leadership and military structure of Hamas,” Biden said in comments that appeared designed to answer criticisms of his support.
Summary of the day so far
It’s 1am in Gaza, Beirut and Tel Aviv. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
Hamas’s leader, Yahya Sinwar, has been killed by Israeli forces, in a major boost to the Israeli military and Benjamin Netanyahu, as the latest in a string of high-profile assassinations of enemy leaders in recent months. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Sinwar had been “eliminated” in Tel Sultan, a neighbourhood of Gaza’s southernmost town, Rafah, on Wednesday. The bodies of three militants were taken to Israel for DNA and dental record testing.
Sinwar’s death brings to an end to a year-long hunt for the mastermind of the 7 October attack on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza. Israel’s Kan Radio reported that the Hamas leader had been killed “by chance”, and not as a result of intelligence gathering. Photos and video from the scene, broadcast on Israeli media, showed what appeared to be Sinwar’s body lying in a pile of rubble on the floor of a destroyed building.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, said “today we have settled the score”, describing Sinwar’s death as the “beginning of the end”. Addressing Israeli citizens on Thursday, Netanyahu said that there are “a lot of challenges still facing us” and that the country must “stand firm on our ground and to continue to fight”. Israel will continue with “all our strength” to bring the hostages still held in Gaza home, he added. It is not yet clear what impact Sinwar’s killing will have on Israel’s campaign in Gaza, but analysts believe that Israel is now intent on a military occupation of the territory for the foreseeable future.
Hundreds of people gathered in Tel Aviv to call for the release of hostages held in Gaza after the news of Sinwar’s assassination broke, as leaders around the world responded to the news.The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, said his country “will not mourn” Sinwar’s death, as he called for the release of hostages, an immediate ceasefire and an increase in humanitarian aid into Gaza. The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said his death “is certainly weakening Hamas”. France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, said he was thinking “with emotion of the victims” of the 7 October Hamas attacks for which Sinwar was the mastermind. Germany’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, called on Hamas to “immediately release all hostages and lay down its arms, the suffering of the people of Gaza must finally end”. Antonio Tajani, Italy’s foreign minister, said he hoped that that Sinwar’s killing “will lead to a ceasefire in Gaza”.
The US is “determined” to “seize the opportunity” of the death of Sinwar by pushing forward with negotiations over a ceasefire in Gaza, a US state department spokesperson said. Joe Biden, the US president, said he was sending his secretary of state, Antony Blinken, to Israel to push for a Gaza ceasefire deal after the killing of Sinwar, after he held a call with Netanyahu on Thursday. Biden said it was “a good day for Israel, for the United States, and for the world.” Blinken, in a separate statement, said the “world is a better place” with Sinwar dead. Kamala Harris, the US president, said “justice has been served”.
At least 28 people have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on a school turned shelter in the Jabaliya neighbourhood of Gaza City on Thursday. Among those killed in the bombing of Abu Hussein school included doctors and several children, according to health officials, who warned the final toll was likely to be higher. The attack on the Jabaliya school also caused a fire.
Another 11 people were killed in two separate airstrikes in Gaza City on Thursday, as Israel’s latest campaign in Jabaliya, a district of Gaza City, reaches its second week. Jabaliya residents said on Thursday that several streets were blown up in bombings, by tank fire and controlled detonations, and that Jabaliya, together with the northern towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia, are now under a complete siege. An estimated 400,000 people are trapped by the fighting, with dwindling humanitarian supplies.
The entirety of northern Gaza is under Israeli evacuation orders. Among those who have remained in the north are disabled or elderly people and their families, who say it is too dangerous and difficult to move. The UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, warned Israel that any “large-scale forcible transfer” of civilians out of conflict-wracked north Gaza could constitute a war crime if not done on “imperative military grounds”.
Israel allowed 50 lorries carrying food, water and medical equipment to enter northern Gaza on Wednesday, following a warning from the US that Israel must allow more aid to reach Gaza or face a cut off in military support. Israel had previously not allowed any aid to enter the north since the start of the month, leading the UN World Food Programme to once again raise the alarm of imminent famine.
It was unclear how many Palestinians were killed in other strikes in central and southern Gaza on Thursday. At least 42,438 Palestinians have been killed and 99,246 injured since 7 October, the health ministry in Gaza said on Thursday. The toll includes 29 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry, which said 99,246 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began.
Lebanon’s crisis response unit said 45 people were killed and 179 were wounded in the past 24 hours on Thursday. The latest figures raise the total death toll over the past year of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah to 2,412 killed, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. In addition, 11,285 people have been injured.
The mayor of one of the largest cities in Lebanon’s south has been killed in an Israeli airstrike that hit the city’s municipal headquarters during a meeting to coordinate aid deliveries to residents and those displaced by war. The strike, one of a series on Nabatieh, killed 16 people and wounded 52, the Lebanese health ministry said. Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, accused Israel of “intentionally targeting” the meeting.
Al Jazeera staff evacuated their offices in downtown Beirut on Thursday afternoon after receiving messages warning them to leave the building, similar to past evacuation warnings from Israel that preceded bombings, the network reported. Two embassies, one of which is the Norwegian embassy, is also housed in the same building were also evacuated.
The US carried out B-2 stealth bomber strikes on Houthi underground weapons facilities in Yemen for the first time. Local television in Houthi-run areas of the country reported 15 strikes hit five sites near the capital, Sana’a, and in the northern governorate Saada, the traditional Houthi homeland, on Thursday around dawn. The move appears in part to be a warning from Washington to Houthi’s backers in Tehran. The Houthi rebels vowed to retaliate.
The US announced a new “temporary protected status” allowing Lebanese nationals in the US to remain in the country and apply for work permits. The designation will last 18 months “due to ongoing armed conflict and extraordinary and temporary conditions in Lebanon that prevent nationals of Lebanon from returning in safety”, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said.
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