World leaders welcome Sinwar’s death, hope it will precipitate hostage deal, end to war

US President Joe Biden on Thursday welcomed the news that Israeli troops had killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the terror group’s October 7 attack on Israel, in a firefight in Gaza.

“This is a good day for Israel, for the United States, and for the world,” Biden said in a statement.

“To my Israeli friends, this is no doubt a day of relief and reminiscence, similar to the scenes witnessed throughout the United States after President Obama ordered the raid to kill Osama Bin Laden in 2011.”

Biden called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from aboard Air Force One to congratulate him. “The US president praised the IDF and their excellent work,” the Prime Minister’s Office said.

Both leaders agreed that there was an opportunity now to move toward a hostage deal, and that they would work together to achieve one, it said.

In his statement, the president connected Sinwar’s death to American intelligence support, saying, “With our intelligence help, the IDF relentlessly pursued Hamas’s leaders, flushing them out of their hiding places and forcing them onto the run.”

Though Israel has worked hard to track down Sinwar, his death in a firefight on Wednesday was not part of a specific effort to target him, and he was not identified until after he was killed.

The terror leader’s elimination “proves once again that no terrorists anywhere in the world can escape justice, no matter how long it takes,” Biden said.

Biden called on Israel to leverage the Hamas leader’s death to return the remaining hostages held captive by the terror group and end the war, noting that “Hamas is no longer capable of carrying out another October 7.”

“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. Yahya Sinwar was an insurmountable obstacle to achieving all of those goals. That obstacle no longer exists. But much work remains before us.”

US Vice President Kamala Harris, running to succeed Biden, said that “justice has been served, and the United States, Israel, and the entire world are better off as a result.”

“He had American blood on his hands. Today, I can only hope that the families of the victims of Hamas feel a sense and measure of relief,” the vice president continued.

“And I will say, to any terrorist who kills Americans, threatens the American people, or threatens our troops, or our interests, know this: we will always bring you to justice.”

British Defense Secretary John Healey said that he “will not mourn” Sinwar.

“I, for one, will not mourn the death of a terror leader like Sinwar — someone who was responsible for the terror attack on October 7.”

The attack, in which thousands of Hamas-led terrorists killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, “triggered not just the darkest, deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Second World War, but [also] triggered more than a year of conflict and an intolerable level of civilian Palestinian casualties,” Healey said.

His comments were echoed by NATO chief Mark Rutte, who told reporters, “If he has died, I personally will not miss him,” noting that “every reasonable soul” has condemned the October 7 attack.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was reportedly passed a note about the Hamas leader’s demise at the same NATO meeting that preceded Rutte’s comments.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock welcomed the news, saying in a statement, “Yahya Sinwar was a brutal murderer and terrorist who was bent on eradicating Israel and its people.”

“As mastermind behind the October 7 terror attacks, he brought death to thousands of people and immeasurable suffering across an entire region.”

“Hamas must now immediately release all hostages and lay down its weapons; the suffering of the people in Gaza must finally end,” Baerbock said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, meanwhile, spoke with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani about Sinwar’s death, and its implications for a potential hostage deal to free the 101 remaining captives, living and dead, held by Hamas in Gaza.

My statement on the IDF eliminating the leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar:

Justice has once again been served by the brave men and women of the Israeli military. Yahya Sinwar, the vile, disgusting person who orchestrated the October 7th massacre, is dead. Sinwar’s life was the…

— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) October 17, 2024

US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson issued a lengthy statement welcoming the death of Sinwar, declaring on X, “Justice has once again been served by the brave men and women of the Israeli military.”

“Sinwar’s life was the embodiment of evil and marked by hatred for all that is good in the world. His death brings hope for all those who seek to live in freedom, and relief to Israelis he has sought to oppress,” Johnson continued.

The Republican speaker urged the White House to capitalize on Sinwar’s death to “work in tandem with Israel to apply a maximum pressure campaign against the head of the snake: Iran,” which supports Hamas and other terror groups in the region, including Hezbollah.

“Despite the Biden-Harris Administration condemning his strategies, Prime Minister Netanyahu has produced multiple watershed victories for Israel such that we are on the precipice of a new day of security and freedom in the Middle East. We cannot let this moment go to waste,” he said.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat and the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in American history, also welcomed the news.

“Sinwar has the blood of countless innocents in Israel and Gaza on his hands, and the world is a much better place without him. For decades, he has pursued an extremist and dead-end path of uber-violent terrorism and destruction,” he said in a statement.

“Let his death be a message to all who seek to terrorize Israel and the Jewish people,” he continued.

“Sinwar in his beliefs and actions have caused so much pain to the Israeli and Palestinian people; and I pray that his elimination from the scene will clear a path to urgently and immediately bring home all the hostages — including the 7 Americans — and negotiate an end to hostilities that will ensure the security of the Israeli people and provide full humanitarian relief and a new path forward for the people of Gaza.”

I want to salute Israel and celebrate the elimination of Yahya Sinwar—a necessary move for any future enduring peace.

Eliminating the mastermind of the 10/7 massacre is the definition of justice served.

My vote and my voice for Israel will not waver.

— Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) October 17, 2024

Vocally pro-Israel Democratic congresspeople also welcomed Sinwar’s death on Thursday.

Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania said on X, “I want to salute Israel and celebrate the elimination of Yahya Sinwar — a necessary move for any future enduring peace. Eliminating the mastermind of the 10/7 massacre is the definition of justice served. My vote and my voice for Israel will not waver.”

Representative Ritchie Torres of New York, also a prominent supporter of Israel, posted early on as news broke of the terror leader’s potential death that “We are awaiting official confirmation of the status of Sinwar’s corpse rotting in hell where he belongs.”

The congressman later posted a message to “American Media,” asking news outlets not to whitewash Sinwar in their coverage of his death, following harshly criticized obituaries of other eliminated terror leaders.

“Please do not eulogize Yahya Sinwar as a ‘father figure’ or a ‘moral compass’ or a ‘charismatic orator’ or an Abrahamic egalitarian fighting for ‘the equality of Muslims, Jews, and Christians.’ Sinwar’s legacy of barbaric bloodlust has been deadly for Israelis and even deadlier for Palestinians. He died as he lived — a monster,” Torres wrote.

Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, is dead. pic.twitter.com/QzZm2zUiav

— Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) October 17, 2024

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, slated to visit Israel on Monday, responded to Sinwar’s death at a press conference Thursday.

“It seems that the military leader of Hamas has been killed, and I believe that, from this point of view, Israel may have fulfilled its self-defense action against the Hamas terrorists,” Tajani said.

“I hope that the demise of the Hamas leader will lead to a ceasefire in Gaza. I will tell this to the Israeli leadership on Monday, asking for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon,” he added.