Netanyahu promises to continue wars in Gaza, Lebanon

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's promises to press on with Israel's wars in Gaza and Lebanon dashed hopes on Oct 18 that the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar might help end more than a year of escalating conflict in the Middle East.

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Hamas vowed on the same day that it would not release the hostages it seized during its Oct 7, 2023, attack on Israel until the Gaza war ends, as it mourned the death of Sinwar.

“We mourn the great leader, the martyred brother, Yahya Sinwar, Abu Ibrahim,” Qatar-based Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya said in a recorded video statement.

The hostages “will not return... unless the aggression against our people in Gaza stops, there is a complete withdrawal from it, and our heroic prisoners are released from the occupation's prisons,” he added.

Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, meanwhile, vowed to escalate fighting against Israel, and the group's backer Iran said “the spirit of resistance” would be strengthened by the death of its Palestinian ally Sinwar in Gaza.

Sinwar, a mastermind of the 2023 attack that triggered the Gaza war, was killed during an operation by Israeli soldiers in the Palestinian enclave on Oct 16, a pivotal event in the year-long conflict.

Mr Netanyahu called Sinwar's killing a milestone late on Oct 17 but vowed to keep up the war, which in recent weeks expanded from fighting against Hamas in Gaza into an invasion of southern Lebanon and the bombardment of large swathes of the country.

“The war, my dear ones, is not yet over,” Mr Netanyahu told Israelis, saying fighting would continue until the hostages held by Hamas are released.

“We have before us a great opportunity to stop the axis of evil and create a different future,” he added, referring to Iran and its militant allies in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.