Joe Biden has said the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar by Israeli troops is a “good day for Israel, for the United States, and for the world”.
Israel said Mr Sinwar was killed on Wednesday in Gaza, and the US president called it an “opportunity” to free Israeli hostages held by Hamas and end the year-long war in Gaza.
In a statement, Mr Biden compared it to the feeling in the US after the killing of al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, who was responsible for the September 11 attacks on the US in 2001.
The president said the killing of the mastermind of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 last year “proves once again that no terrorists anywhere in the world can escape justice, no matter how long it takes”.
Yahya Sinwar (John Minchillo/AP)
Mr Biden said he will speak with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders to congratulate them “and to discuss the pathway for bringing the hostages home to their families, and for ending this war once and for all”.
He said Mr Sinwar’s death means “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”.
He praised US special forces and intelligence operatives who helped advise Israeli allies on tracking and locating Mr Sinwar and other Hamas leaders over the last year — though the US said the operation that killed Mr Sinwar was an Israeli one.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan called Mr Sinwar a “massive obstacle” to peace, adding: “His removal from the battlefield does present an opportunity to find a way forward that gets the hostages home.”
US vice president Kamala Harris said the killing of the Hamas leader “gives us an opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza”.
Speaking from a campaign stop in Wisconsin, she said the war “must end such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends and the Palestinian people can realise their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination”.
“It is time for the day after to begin,” she added.