US pushes for truce in Gaza after Israel kills Hamas leader

The U.S. said it would begin a renewed push for a cease-fire in Gaza after Israel killed Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas who ordered the Oct. 7 attacks, in an effort to end the yearlong war that’s devastated the Palestinian territory.

President Joe Biden said he’s sending Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Israel as part of efforts to end the conflict. “Now is the time to move on,” Biden told reporters after landing in Berlin, Germany. “Move on, move toward a cease-fire in Gaza.”

Yet Israel is showing no appetite to stop fighting, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying “the mission before us is yet to be completed” despite Sinwar’s death. Hamas should no longer be able to govern in Gaza, he said, and a number of hostages still need to be rescued. The militant group killed 1,200 people and kidnapped about 250 in its raid of southern Israel last year that triggered the war, and dozens of those captured are believed to be still alive.

The Israeli military said Thursday that Sinwar, who hadn’t been heard from in weeks, was slain the previous day in southern Gaza in what appeared to be a chance encounter. The killing marked a significant moment in a conflict that’s spread to Lebanon, where Israel has escalated an offensive against the militant group Hezbollah after a year of cross-border skirmishes.

In the hours after Sinwar’s killing became public, Hezbollah said it was transitioning to a new phase of the confrontation with Israel, according to a statement on Telegram. The group has been firing missiles into the north the country since Israel started its campaign in Gaza, and has continued with its attacks since Israel’s escalation in Lebanon.

Israel’s operations in Lebanon have killed at least 1,500 people since last month, according to health ministry officials, and displaced over a million. The campaign in Gaza has killed at least 42,000 people, according to health officials in the Hamas-run territory.

Both Hamas and Hezbollah are backed by Iran and designated terrorist groups by the U.S.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati called out Iran for what he described as an interference in his country’s internal affairs after Tehran said it was ready to negotiate with France on a resolution that only the Lebanese army be deployed in the south of the country.

“We are surprised by this position, which constitutes a blatant interference in Lebanese affairs and an attempt to establish a rejected guardianship over Lebanon,” Mikati said in a post on X. He summoned the chargé d’affairs of the Iranian embassy in Beirut on Friday, according to a statement.

Sinwar successor

Sinwar’s demise leaves Hamas with no clear successor. With the world bracing for Israel’s expected retaliation against Iran for an Oct. 1 missile barrage, Netanyahu scored another coup after the assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in July and Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah last month.

One possibility to take over Hamas is Sinwar’s deputy, Khalil al-Hayya, who is based in the Qatari capital of Doha and has been leading indirect negotiations with Israel. Other Arab commentators speculated that Sinwar’s brother Mohammed, one of the top commanders of the Qassam Brigades, might be a contender.

The shekel rose Friday, trading at the highest level since Sept. 26 on a closing basis. The currency is heading for a second weekly advance against the U.S. dollar as investors bet Israel’s gains against its adversaries will shorten the war. The options market also signaled calm returning, with one-month implied volatility on the currency heading for a second successive week of declines.

The Israel Defense Forces said soldiers identified a number of people who crossed from Jordan into Israeli territory south of the Dead Sea on Friday, and two of them opened fire on the troops. The shooters were killed, according to the IDF.

“Military operations need to end, and after this operation, a cease-fire must be accepted in Gaza,” French President Emmanuel Macron said. He offered implicit criticism of the U.S., the chief supplier of weapons to Israel’s army even as the civilian death toll has risen.

“Those who deliver arms to lead operations on Gaza have particular responsibility because one can’t call for a cease-fire and continue delivering arms that allow these excesses,” he said.

“For the Israelis all along, getting Sinwar was always going to be the key to being able to claim success,” said Dennis Ross, who served as the White House’s Middle East envoy under President Bill Clinton and is now a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “And so now there is a potential to do that.”

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(With assistance from Srinivasan Sivabalan, Jenny Leonard, Iain Marlow, Galit Altstein and Dan Williams.)