US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that the United States has no knowledge of, and is not involved in, the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran.
“I can’t tell you what that means. I can tell you that the imperative of a ceasefire, its importance to everyone, remains,” Blinken said, according to a transcript shared by his staff from an interview with Channel News Asia in Singapore.
Hamas said on Wednesday that Haniyeh was attending the swearing-in ceremony of Iran’s new president when he was killed in an Israeli air strike.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas in revenge for the October 7 Israeli attack that sparked the war in Gaza.
Washington is Israel’s main military backer and has been pressing for a ceasefire in Gaza, which Blinken said was “clearly in the interest” of Israeli hostages and the people of Gaza who are “caught in the crossfire by Hamas”.
As political head of the Palestinian movement Hamas, Haniyeh was overseeing negotiations on a deal to end the war in Gaza and release hostages held in that territory in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Blinken, who is on a visit to Singapore, said a ceasefire in Gaza is also important to prevent the conflict from spreading to the rest of the region.
“We’ve been working since day one not only to get a better situation in Gaza, but to prevent the conflict from spreading, whether it’s to the north with Lebanon and Hezbollah, whether it’s across the Red Sea with the Houthis, whether it’s Iran, Syria, Iraq, you name it,” Blinken said while addressing a forum in the city state.
“The biggest key to making sure that doesn’t happen, and that we can get to a better place, is a ceasefire.”
Qatar – a key mediator in ceasefire talks and home to Hamas’ political leadership, including Haniyeh – has questioned the future of the talks following the killing.
Hamas vowed that the “cowardly” killing of their senior leader “would not go unanswered”.
The attacks on southern Israel on October 7 killed 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures.
The operation also captured 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still being held in Gaza, 39 of whom the military says are dead.
At least 39,400 people have been killed in Gaza in Israel’s counteroffensive against Hamas, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, though the ministry did not give details of civilian and militant deaths.
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