The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed Sinwar was killed along with two other militants in an operation in Gaza. Details of the operation are still unclear.
“Today evil has suffered a heavy blow,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address, adding the war was not yet over.
Sinwar’s death was met with relief in Washington but differing opinions on the next phase of the war.
“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,” President Biden said in a statement.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) disagreed, saying “the death of this man is not the end of Israel’s fight for survival” and calling for Biden to stand by Netanyahu’s larger war aims in the region.
Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said the mission that killed Sinwar was an Israeli operation but the U.S. helped provide broad information and intel on tracking him and other Hamas officials.
Ryder said Hamas has been “incredibly degraded” and they no longer “resemble anything close to what they were on Oct. 7 or the ability to conduct the kind of operations.”
Sinwar was the top Hamas chief in Gaza when he plotted and carried out the Oct. 7 attacks, and he became the militant group’s political leader after Ismail Haniyeh was killed in July.
The IDF had been hunting Sinwar for more than a year, but he had remained elusive, even after the death of his top commander, Mohammed Deif, also in July.
Sinwar was accused by the U.S. of being an obstacle in the cease-fire and hostage release talks and reportedly was the key official who was approving or rejecting certain conditions. He was hiding underneath a vast tunnel network in Gaza even during the cease-fire talks.
With his death, it’s unclear exactly how talks will continue. Around 100 hostages still remain in Gaza, and more than 42,000 people have died in the coastal strip, which is suffering from a lack of humanitarian aid.
The families of the hostages released a statement Thursday saying it “is now time for every single hostage held in Gaza to be returned to their families.”
“No more delays and no more demands,” they said. “The elimination of this brutal terrorist is a step toward justice. But true victory for Israel, its allies, and for the world will only be achieved when every hostage is released and the suffering of civilians in Gaza ends.”
Read more coverage of the Middle East conflict at TheHill.com.
