Biden says Haniyeh assassination did not help ceasefire negotiations

Analysts and officials have suggested that the killing of Haniyeh, who served as a top negotiator for Hamas, could jeopardize talks to stop the fighting in Gaza and release hostages taken on Oct. 7.

According to a White House readout of the call with Netanyahu, Biden also discussed “new defensive U.S. military deployments” as part of “efforts to support Israel’s defense against threats.” He also “reaffirmed his commitment to Israel’s security against all threats from Iran, including its proxy terrorist groups Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis,” it said. The U.S. military has previously provided defense support to Israel, including against an attack from Iran in April.

Haniyeh’s killing has escalated tensions across the region, with Iran vowing retaliation for the assassination on its soil, which has been widely attributed to Israel. Israel has so far declined to comment on Haniyeh’s death, though it has acknowledged the strikes last month that killed a senior Hezbollah commander, Fuad Shukr, in Beirut as well as Hamas’s military leader, Mohammed Deif, in Gaza.

Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah said Thursday that the group’s decades-long conflict with Israel had “entered a new stage” after Shukr’s killing. Israel said that strike — which killed at least six other people, including two children — was in response to an attack that killed a group of 12 children and teenagers on a soccer field in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Hezbollah denied responsibility.

Deif’s death was confirmed by the Israeli military Thursday, after he was targeted in Israeli strikes in mid-July that killed at least 90 people, according to Palestinian authorities. A Hamas spokesman said in a statement Thursday that only the leadership of the group’s military wing could confirm or deny the death of any Hamas leaders.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with the UAE’s foreign minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Thursday to discuss “diplomatic efforts to achieve a cease-fire in Gaza.” The call, on the same day that funeral ceremonies for Haniyeh and Shukr took place in Tehran and Beirut respectively, also “emphasized the importance of preventing the conflict from escalating,” according to a readout shared by the State Department.

Several airlines have announced further suspensions of their flights to Tel Aviv. Delta, which this week said it was pausing flights between New York and Tel Aviv until Friday, has extended its cancellations until Aug. 9, according to an updated statement. Italy’s ITA Airways, meanwhile, said Thursday it was suspending flights through Aug. 6 due to “geopolitical developments in the Middle East and to ensure the safety of its passengers and crews,” according to its website.

Israeli strikes that killed several World Central Kitchen workers in April were the result of the Israel Defense Forces’ “serious failures” to follow its procedures as well as “errors in decision-making,” an Australian government report found. Canberra is now “pressing Israel to reform its coordination with humanitarian organizations,” a press release said, to ensure the deaths of the six foreign aid workers, including an Australian, and their Palestinian driver “are not in vain and not repeated.” Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the deaths were “inexcusable” and “not a one-off incident,” according to the country’s national broadcaster.

At least ​​39,480 people have been killed and 91,128 injured in Gaza since the war started, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says the majority of the dead are women and children. Israel estimates that about 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, including more than 300 soldiers. It says 329 soldiers have been killed since the launch of its military operations in Gaza.