BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The United States called on Israel, Hamas and Hezbollah to seize opportunities for change following the killing of Hamas’ leader Yahya Sinwar, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Friday.
“We’ll see how things evolve,” Austin said, when asked about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s vow to keep fighting.
“But clearly there are opportunities for a change in direction, and we would hope that, you know, parties would would take advantage of that, both in Lebanon, in Gaza and in Lebanon.”
The Israeli military said on Thursday that Sinwar, architect of last year’s Hamas’s cross-border assault on Israel, was killed in an operation in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
Austin also said that U.S. Forces in the Middle East stood ready to support Israel’s defence.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart, Sabine Siebold; Editing by Hugh Lawson, Charlotte Van Campenhoutm and Alex Richardson)
