Sanders Says Killing of Sinwar Must Bring End to 'Cruel and Illegal War' on Gaza

Confirmation that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has been killed by the Israeli military has lifted hopes that new traction can be found for a cease-fire deal in Gaza and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was among those who said the development must be exploited to help end the "cruel and illegal war" that has largely targeted innocent Palestinian civilians.

With the death of Sinwar—first claimed by the Israeli military and confirmed publicly by Hamas officials Friday—Sanders said there should be no further obstacles for an end of the fighting and a surge of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.

"There is now no justification for Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu and his extremist government to continue their all-out war against the Palestinian people, which has killed 42,000 Palestinians and injured 100,000—two-thirds of whom are women, children, and the elderly," Sanders said Thursday after the news broke.

"There is no justification for continuing to deny humanitarian aid to the many thousands of children in Gaza who are starving," Sanders continued. "There is no justification for continuing to destroy the housing, healthcare, and infrastructure of Gaza. There is now no justification for further delaying a hostage deal and a cease-fire. And there is absolutely no justification for continued U.S. support for Netanyahu's horrific policies, which are in clear violation of U.S. and international law."

In a statement released from the White House after DNA testing was said to have confirmed the death of Sinwar—believed to have orchestrated Hamas' deadly attack against Israeli soldiers and civilians on October 7 of last year—President Joe Biden said his killing by Israeli forces in Gaza represented "a good day for Israel, for the United States, and for the world."

In his remarks, Biden added that he would be speaking "soon with Prime Minister Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders to congratulate them, to discuss the pathway for bringing the hostages home to their families, and for ending this war once and for all, which has caused so much devastation to innocent people."

As many major outlets reported, Sinwar's killing resulted in Biden joining with other world leaders to push for a cease-fire process that Netanyahu has steadfastly sabotaged. According toThe Guardian:

Speaking as he arrived in Germany to meet European leaders, Biden said he felt "more hopeful" about the prospects of a cease-fire and would send the U.S. secretary of state, Antony Blinken, to Israel in the next four or five days.

Biden joined figures including his vice president, Kamala Harris, the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, in urging progress towards a cease-fire.

Blinken held separate phone calls on Thursday with the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, and the Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, on ending the conflict in the Middle East, the U.S. State Department said.

Despite new diplomatic gestures, however, there remains plenty of skepticism that Sinwar's death will change anything on the ground. In his public comments Thursday, Netanyahu promised that the killing of the leader would not alter Israel's commitment to fully crushing the Palestinian resistance in Gaza.

While Netanyahu said Israel "settled the score" by killing Sinwar, he promised that the war "will continue" until all the hostages were home. As critics have pointed out repeatedly, it was only a temporary cease-fire deal in November of 2023 that saw the safe return of Israeli hostages. In the meantime, many tens of thousands of innocent civilians in Gaza—men, women, and children—have been killed, maimed, or remain missing.

In a column Friday, Steven Simons, a distinguished fellow at Dartmouth College and senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, argued that just because it's as good as time as any to reach a cease-fire deal, it doesn't mean the opposing sides will seize the opportunity.

"The question for both the Palestinians and Israelis is what happens next," wrote Simons. "If the two are smart, Sinwar's successors will offer to release all the remaining hostages, dead and alive, in exchange for an immediate cease-fire and a massive influx of humanitarian aid. The Israelis would be well-advised to declare victory and accept such an arrangement."

"The Biden administration, and presumably Vice President [Kamala] Harris, have signaled that Netanyahu’s government is skating on thin ice." he continued. However, Netanyahu "might calculate that he need only wait a few weeks for a president-elect Donald Trump and therefore pocket Sinwar's death and carry on with business as usual."

As far as Sanders is concerned, the only path forward is an immediate end to hostilities and the best way for the U.S. to facilitate that is to stop supplying Israel with weapons and end its political cover for Israel's many alleged war crimes, including the blocking of life-saving aid and indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas.

"When Congress returns," Sanders said, "the Senate will be voting on my Joint Resolutions of Disapproval to block offensive arms sales to Israel. We must end our complicity in this cruel and illegal war."