JERUSALEM/CAIRO (Reuters) – Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, mastermind of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the Gaza war, was killed on Thursday, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said.
Following is international reaction:
FRENCH PRESIDENT EMMANUEL MACRON
“Yahya Sinwar was the main person responsible for the terrorist attacks and barbaric acts of October 7th. Today, I think with emotion of the victims, including 48 of our compatriots, and their loved ones. France demands the release of all hostages still held by Hamas.”
GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER ANNALENA BAERBOCK
“Sinwar was a brutal murderer and terrorist, who wanted to destroy Israel and its people. As the mastermind of the terror on Oct. 7 he brought death to thousands of people and immeasurable suffering to a whole region. Hamas must now release all hostages and lay down its weapons, the suffering of the people in Gaza must finally end.”
ITALY’S FOREIGN MINISTER ANTONIO TAJANI
“It seems that the military leader of Hamas has been killed and I believe that from this point of view Israel may have carried out its self-defence against the Hamas terrorists.
“I hope that the disappearance of the Hamas leader will lead to a ceasefire in Gaza.”
UK DEFENCE SECRETARY JOHN HEALEY
“I, for one, will not mourn the death of a terror leader like Sinwar, someone who was responsible for the terror attack on October the 7th, and I’m conscious like the UK Government is that that triggered not just the darkest, deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Second World War, but it’s triggered since more than a year of conflict and an intolerable level of civilian Palestinian casualties as well.”
CHICK SCHUMER, DEMOCRATIC MAJORITY LEADER OF U.S. SENATE
“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.”
MIKE JOHNSON, REPUBLICAN LEADER OF U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
“With the bloodthirsty leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah now gone, the Biden-Harris Administration must now work in tandem with Israel to apply a maximum pressure campaign against the head of the snake: Iran.
“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.”
ISRAEL’S U.N. AMBASSADOR DANNY DANON
“Our IDF forces eliminated Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas and chief architect of the October 7th massacre. Yesterday at the U.N. Security Council, many asked why we are still in Gaza a year after the October 7th atrocities. Today they got the answer. No terrorist is immune to the long arm of the IDF. We will not stop until we bring home all of our hostages and eliminate the Hamas monsters.”
(Reporting by Reuters bureaus)
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