Israel’s foreign minister has called for the death of Yahya Sinwar, the newly appointed leader of Hamas, as Israel braces for expected retaliation from Iran following its killing of a commander of Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon and the killing of Sinwar’s predecessor in Tehran last week.
Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on X that the appointment of Sinwar, who he called an arch-terrorist, “is yet another compelling reason to swiftly eliminate him and wipe this vile organization off the face of the earth.”
Israel has not claimed responsibility for the assassination of Hamas’ previous leader, Ismail Haniyeh, but his July 31 death prompted Iranian leaders to blame Israel and pledge a response.
On Wednesday, Hamas named Sinwar, one of the architects of the October 7 terror attack on Israel, as its new leader, a move that Katz said sends “a clear message to the world that the Palestinian issue is now completely controlled by Iran and Hamas.”
Katz also said Israel must maintain security control over the Israel-occupied West Bank in order to prevent Iran from establishing another “extremist stronghold.”
“Anything else will lead to the creation of another Iranian outpost in the region, which will explode in the face of the world and all regional countries,” Katz said.
The Israeli military has conducted repeated raids in the West Bank that it says are aimed at disrupting militant activity and potential attacks against Israel. About 600 people have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank since the war in Gaza began in October.
With Hezbollah’s leader also vowing to respond to Israel’s killing of one of its commanders, Fouad Shukur, last week in Beirut, international fears have grown for the possibility of an expanded regional conflict.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that everyone in the region needs to “make decisions that will calm tensions, not exacerbate them.”
“We will continue to defend Israel against attacks from terrorist groups or their sponsors, just as we’ll continue to defend our troops,” Blinken said. “But everyone in the region should understand that further attacks only perpetuate conflict, instability, insecurity for everyone. And further attacks only raise the risk of dangerous outcomes that no one can predict and no one can fully control.”
Blinken said the only path to ending the conflict in Gaza and bringing calm to the region is securing a long-sought cease-fire in Gaza.
The White House said Tuesday that President Joe Biden spoke Tuesday with both President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt and Amir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani of Qatar to renew the Gaza cease-fire effort. The leaders “agreed on the urgency of bringing the process to closure as soon as possible,” according to a White House statement.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas in retaliation for the October 7 terror attack that killed 1,200 people and led to the capture of 250 hostages. Israel’s counteroffensive has killed at nearly 40,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, while Israel says the death toll includes thousands of Hamas fighters it has killed.
Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
