WASHINGTON – US President Joe Biden said the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was not helpful to reaching a ceasefire in Israel’s war in Gaza, according to media outlets.
The US president made the comment as another airline suspended flights to Tel Aviv as tensions spiralled in the Middle East.
Haniyeh was killed in an airstrike Wednesday when he was visiting Tehran to attend the swearing in ceremony for Iran’s new president Masoud Pezeshkian.
“It doesn’t help,” Mr Biden told reporters late on Thursday according to MENA, when asked if Haniyeh’s assassination ruined the chances for a Gaza ceasefire agreement.
The US president also said he had spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday.
Haniyeh’s death came 24 hours after Israel said it had killed senior Hezbollah commander senior Fuad Shukr in Lebanon that it said was behind a deadly strike on a football pitch in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights which killed a dozen children and teenagers on Saturday.
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