US PRESIDENT Joe Biden said the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh does not help talks on a potential ceasefire in Gaza. Haniyeh was killed while visiting the Iranian capital Tehran on Wednesday (31/7).
Iran and its allies have blamed Israel, although Israel has not commented on his death. Haniyeh was Hamas’s most senior official and was closely involved in negotiating a ceasefire and the release of hostages from its base in Qatar.
Biden said he was deeply concerned about rising tensions in the Middle East. “We have the basis for a ceasefire. He (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) should continue it and they (Hamas) should continue it now.”
Israel and Hamas have recently resumed tentative, indirect talks trying to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza war, despite conflicting reports of progress.
In late May, Biden outlined what he said were the terms of Israel’s ceasefire proposal. This has been the basis of indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel since then, with Qatar, Egypt and the US acting as mediators.
Earlier this week, Israel and Hamas accused each other of obstructing progress. Hamas said Israel had introduced new conditions. Netanyahu’s office said Hamas had demanded 29 changes to the proposal.
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The war began in October when Hamas carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 others into Gaza as hostages. The attack prompted a massive Israeli military response that killed at least 39,480 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Biden’s comments were his first on Haniyeh’s killing since the Hamas chief was killed. The US president was speaking to reporters at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, before welcoming home American citizens as part of a prisoner swap with Russia.
He said he spoke with Netanyahu on Thursday and promised to protect Israel from any threats from Iran, which has vowed to retaliate. Iran is Hamas’s most important backer and Israel’s arch-enemy.
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Israel has not claimed responsibility for the killing, but Netanyahu said after the killing that Israel had dealt a heavy blow to Iranian proxy groups in recent days.
On Saturday, 12 children and young people were killed after an attack on a soccer field in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Israel blamed Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement and vowed harsh retaliation, although Hezbollah has denied involvement.
On Tuesday, hours before Haniyeh’s killing, Israel killed senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr, who it said was behind the Golan Heights attack, in a targeted air strike in Beirut. (BBC/Z-2)
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