Biden says Sinwar's death is an 'opportunity' for a hostage deal and an end to war in Gaza

BERLIN — President Joe Biden said Thursday that the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar by Israeli troops is a “good day for the world,” calling it an opportunity to free hostages held by the militant group and end the yearlong war in Gaza.

“Now’s the time to move on. ... Move toward a cease-fire in Gaza, make sure that we move in a direction that we’re able to make things better for the whole world,” Biden told reporters as he arrived in Berlin for a short visit. "It’s time for this war to end and bring these hostages home. That’s what we’re ready to do.”

U.S. officials expressed such measured optimism that the killing of a militant characterized by national security adviser Jake Sullivan as a “massive obstacle to peace" might breathe new life into cease-fire talks that have failed to produce a breakthrough for months despite periodic signs of progress.

“Over the past few weeks, there have been no negotiations for an end to the war because Sinwar has refused to negotiate,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters. “We now see an opportunity with him having been removed from the battlefield, being removed from the leadership of Hamas, and we want to seize that opportunity.”

Biden spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to congratulate him on the mission that killed Sinwar. They also discussed “how to use this moment to bring the hostages home and to bring the war to a close with Israel’s security assured and Hamas never again able to control Gaza,” according to a White House summary of the call.

However, Netanyahu said Thursday that “our war has not yet ended.” Besides seeking the release of hostages, Netanyahu has said Israel must keep long-term control over Gaza to ensure Hamas does not rearm — opening the possibility of continued fighting.

Biden said he would be sending Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Israel in the coming days.

In an earlier statement, the president compared the reaction to Sinwar's death to the feeling in the U.S. after the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, who was responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

He said the killing of the mastermind of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel “proves once again that no terrorists anywhere in the world can escape justice, no matter how long it takes.”

The inability to reach a cease-fire in Gaza and deliver the return of the hostages has bedeviled negotiators from the start. Hamas militants killed some 1,200 people in Israel in the attacks that launched the war and took about 250 hostage. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, about a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has destroyed much of the Gaza Strip and killed more than 42,000 Palestinians. The Gaza Health Ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says more than half of those killed were women and children.

The U.S. has been working with fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar on a cease-fire proposal since the war began a year ago, sending Blinken and other envoys to the Middle East multiple times to try to broker a deal without success.

Last month, on Blinken’s 10th trip to the region since the war in Gaza began, he skipped Israel and withheld optimistic projections of a breakthrough.

“On multiple occasions over the past months, Sinwar rebuffed efforts by the United States and its partners to bring this war to a close through an agreement that would return the hostages to their families and alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people,” Blinken said in a statement Thursday.

The halting progress and seemingly conflicting priorities have caused friction in the Biden-Netanyahu relationship as the Israeli leader's pledge to achieve “total victory” against Hamas has clashed with U.S. officials' concerns about large-scale civilian casualties in Gaza. Israeli leaders presented the killing of Sinwar as a moment for Hamas to surrender.

The Biden administration also had urgently called for an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah to avoid the possibility of all-out war in the Middle East before shifting its message after Israel killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike and pressed ahead with a ground invasion in Lebanon.

Biden said with Sinwar’s death “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 U.S. special operations forces and intelligence operatives who helped advise Israeli allies on tracking and locating Sinwar and other Hamas leaders over the past year — though the U.S. said the operation that killed Sinwar was an Israeli one.

Sullivan said Sinwar's removal from the battlefield does present an opportunity to find a way forward that gets the hostages home.”

“Now we will have to work to ensure that his death actually does deal the kind of long-term blow to Hamas that of all of us would like to see," he said.