Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday (17) that the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar offers a chance for peace in the Middle East, but warned that the war in the Gaza Strip is not over.
“Today we settled the score. Today the evil was dealt a blow, but our task has not yet been completed,” Netanyahu said in a video.
“To the beloved families of hostages, I say: this is an important moment in the war. We will continue at full strength until all your loved ones, our loved ones, are home,” he concluded.
Who is Yahya Sinwar?
A long-time Hamas figure, Yahya Sinwar was born in 1962 in a refugee camp in Khan Younis, south of Gaza.
He was responsible for building the group’s military arm before forming important new ties with regional Arab powers as a civilian and political leader.
Sinwar was elected to Hamas’ top decision-making body, the Politburo, in 2017 as Hamas’s political leader in Gaza.
However, he has since become the de facto leader of the Politburo, according to research by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).
He has been designated a global terrorist by the US State Department since 2015 and has been sanctioned by the United Kingdom and France.
Find out more about who Yahya Sinwar was through this article.
Understand the conflict in the Gaza Strip
Israel has carried out intense airstrikes in the Gaza Strip since last year, after Hamas invaded the country and killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli counts. Furthermore, the radical group holds dozens of hostages.
Hamas does not recognize Israel as a state and claims Israeli territory for Palestine.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised several times to destroy Hamas’ military capabilities and recover people detained in Gaza. In addition to the air offensive, the Israeli Army is carrying out land incursions into Palestinian territory. This caused much of Gaza’s population to be displaced.
The UN and several humanitarian institutions have warned of a catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, with a lack of food, medicine and the spread of diseases.
About a year into the conflict, the Israeli population took to the streets in protests against Netanyahu, accusing the prime minister of failing to reach a ceasefire agreement so the hostages could be released.
This content was originally published in Netanyahu celebrates death of Hamas leader, but says war is not over on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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