‘Al-Sinwar was a brutal murderer’

After Israel declared the leader of the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, Yehya al-Sinwar, to be dead, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called on Hamas to release all hostages and lay down their arms.

“The suffering of the people in Gaza must finally end,” she said on Thursday evening.

“Al-Sinwar was a brutal murderer and terrorist who wanted to destroy Israel and its people,” she asserted. “As the mastermind of the terror on October 7, he brought death to thousands and immeasurable suffering to an entire region.”

The Israeli government declared the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip to be dead. “The arch-terrorist (Yehya al-)Sinwar, responsible for the massacre and atrocities of October 7, was eliminated today by IDF (Israel Defense Forces) soldiers,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz announced.

The military also confirmed al-Sinwar’s death in the southern Gaza Strip. Hamas initially did not comment.