Former White House national security adviser John Bolton said Thursday was “a good day for the whole world” after the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
“Well, it’s a good day for the whole world that this particular terrorist who was responsible for planning the October 7 attack on Israel has met his just desserts, and I think it opens a lotta possibilities here,” Bolton told NewsNation’s Blake Burman in an interview on “The Hill.”
Sinwar was the architect of the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas last year, which began the current war in the Middle East. Per the Israeli military, he was killed Thursday amid a military operation by the Israelis in Gaza.
“He was the best known Hamas leader still in the fight in Gaza,” Bolton said. “There are a lot of Hamas leaders who are somewhere else, in Doha and other places in the Middle East, although they may be going into hiding as we speak. So, I think this presents Israel with an opportunity, really, to finish Hamas off in the Gaza Strip.”
President Biden congratulated Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the country’s killing of Sinwar.
“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,” Biden said in a Thursday statement. “Yahya Sinwar was an insurmountable obstacle to achieving all of those goals. That obstacle no longer exists. But much work remains before us.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said in a Thursday post on the social platform X that “Sinwar’s life was the embodiment of evil and marked by hatred for all that is good in the world.”
“His death brings hope for all those who seek to live in freedom, and relief to Israelis he has sought to oppress,” Johnson added.
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