World leaders press Hamas to free hostages after leader Sinwar's death

Here are how some of the world's leaders and politicians reacted to Sinwar's death in an Israeli ground operation in Gaza:

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Thursday said the Gaza war had not ended with the killing of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, while calling on militants to free hostages.

“The war ... is not over yet. And it is difficult, and it exacts heavy prices from us,” Netanyahu said in a video statement, adding in a message to Palestinians in Gaza: “Whoever lays down his weapon and returns our hostages – we will allow him to go on living.”

French President Emmanuel Macron

French President Emmanuel Macron called Thursday for the release of "all hostages" held by Hamas in Gaza.

“Yahya Sinwar was the main person responsible for the terrorist attacks and barbaric acts of October 7," he wrote on X. "Today, I think with emotion of the victims, including 48 of our compatriots, and their loved ones. France demands the release of all hostages still held by Hamas.”

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US President Joe Biden

President Joe Biden said on Thursday that Sinwar’s death marks a moment of relief for Israelis, while providing the opportunity for a “day after” in Gaza without the militant group in power.

“Yahya Sinwar was an insurmountable obstacle to achieving all of those goals. That obstacle no longer exists. But much work remains before us,” Biden said in a statement.

French foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot

The killing of Sinwar dealt a fatal blow to Hamas, France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said on Thursday, adding that a page must now be turned to work towards peace in Gaza and the wider region.

"It's a fatal blow that has been struck on Hamas, a terrorist group, which was guilty of an anti-Semitic massacre and many attacks, terrorist attacks," Barrot told LCI television, adding diplomacy alone would enable Israel to have security in the long-term.

German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock

Germany's foreign minister Annalena Baerbock branded Sinwar "a cruel murderer and a terrorist".

“Sinwar was a brutal murderer and terrorist, who wanted to destroy Israel and its people," she said. "As the mastermind of the terror on October 7 he brought death to thousands of people and immeasurable suffering to a whole region. Hamas must now release all hostages and lay down its weapons, the suffering of the people in Gaza must finally end.”

US Vice President Kamala Harris

Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris said Sinwar's killing “gives us an opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza”.

Speaking from a Wisconsin college campus where she was campaigning, Harris said the war “must end such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends and the Palestinian people can realise their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination”.

Read moreDeath of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, a mastermind of the October 7 attacks

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that work needed to be done to ensure the death of Sinwar “actually does deal the kind of long-term blow to Hamas that all of us would like to see”.

Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani

“It seems that the military leader of Hamas has been killed and I believe that from this point of view Israel may have carried out its self-defence against the Hamas terrorists," Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said in Milan.

“I hope that the disappearance of the Hamas leader will lead to a ceasefire in Gaza.”

British defence secretary John Healey

“I, for one, will not mourn the death of a terror leader like Sinwar, someone who was responsible for the terror attack on October the 7th," British defence secretary John Healey said. "And I’m conscious like the UK Government is that that triggered not just the darkest, deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Second World War, but it’s triggered since more than a year of conflict and an intolerable level of civilian Palestinian casualties as well.”  

US House of Representatives leader Mike Johnson

“With the bloodthirsty leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah now gone, the Biden-Harris Administration must now work in tandem with Israel to apply a maximum pressure campaign against the head of the snake: Iran," US House of Representatives leader Mike Johnson posted on X.

“Despite the Biden-Harris Administration condemning his strategies, Prime Minister Netanyahu has produced multiple watershed victories for Israel such that we are on the precipice of a new day of security and freedom in the Middle East. We cannot let this moment go to waste.”

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US Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer

“Sinwar in his beliefs and actions have caused so much pain to the Israeli and Palestinian people," US Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said. "And I pray that his elimination from the scene will clear a path to urgently and immediately bring home all the hostages – including the 7 Americans – and negotiate an end to hostilities that will ensure the security of the Israeli people and provide full humanitarian relief and a new path forward for the people of Gaza.”

Israel’s UN ambassador Danny Danon

“Our IDF forces eliminated Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas and chief architect of the October 7th massacre," Israel's ambassador to the UN Danny Danon wrote on X. "Yesterday at the UN Security Council, many asked why we are still in Gaza a year after the October 7th atrocities. Today they got the answer. No terrorist is immune to the long arm of the IDF. We will not stop until we bring home all of our hostages and eliminate the Hamas monsters.”

(FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP and Reuters)