“Sinwar was the leader of a terrorist organization, Hamas, and the mastermind behind the 7th of October with the killings, the massacres, the rapes and the kidnappings. His death is certainly significantly weakening Hamas,” stated European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during a press conference following an EU Summit meeting.
The announcement by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Rafah came last Thursday as European Union leaders were meeting in Brussels mainly to discuss the situation in the Middle East, Ukraine and migration.
Even though Sinwar’s death was the major breaking news of the day, there was no mention of it at all in the European Summit Conclusions published late on Thursday.
Asked by European Jewish Press for an explanation, EU foreign affairs spokesperson Peter Stano said during Friday’s midday briefing of the European Commission: ‘’We are here not to explain what the leaders of the EU agreed on, what is in the conclusions and why it is not there. I can only recall that the European Council conclusions are being prepared for a relatively long time and then agreed eventually by the leaders. So they do not necessarily react to every breking news that is happening on the day of the Summit.’’
He added that EU leaders ‘’ are defining positions of the European Union on broader political topics, issues and crises.’’ ‘’But when it comes to the killing of, Yahya Sinwar, I think the leaders where very clear in their remarks to the media, in the press conferences, in their statements, you have a very variety of reactions to what happened and not eveyrthing which is a subject of breaking news needs to be reflected in European Council conclusions.’’
What did EU leaders say ?
They warmly welcomed the news that the Israeli Defense Forces had killed Sinwar, the architect of the 7th of October massacres and expressed hope this could lead to a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of all the hostages.
“Sinwar was the leader of a terrorist organization, Hamas, and the mastermind behind the 7th of October with the killings, the massacres, the rapes and the kidnappings. His death is certainly significantly weakening Hamas,” stated European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during the post-Summit press conference.
European Council President Charles Michel said Sinwar was “responsible for the suffering of people in Gaza because of his action” as one of the planner of last year’s attack by Hamas on Israel. ‘’We call for a ceasefire in Gaza but also in Lebanon and to increase humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza.’’
French President Emmanuel Macron, who has been critical of Israel’s military operation in Gaza, said Sinwar’s death was ‘’a turning point.’’
“We should seize this opportunity to free the hostages and to end the war,” he told reporters after the summit. “We need to end the military operations, accept the ceasefire in Gaza, and open a credible political perspective for Israelis and Palestinians,’’ he said;
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock wrote on X: “Yahya Sinwar was a brutal murderer and terrorist who was bent on eradicating Israel and its people. As mastermind behind the October 7 terror attacks, he brought death to thousands of people and immeasurable suffering across an entire region.’’
“Hamas must now immediately release all hostages and lay down its weapons; the suffering of the people in Gaza must finally end,’’ she added.
They are still 101 hostages held in captivity by the terrorist group.
EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell tweeted : “Yahya Sinwar was a terrorist, listed by the EU, responsible for the heinous 7/10 attack.He was an obstacle to an urgently needed ceasefire and the unconditional release of all hostages.’’
But neither Michel nor von der Leyen answered a question from a Wall Street Journal reporter who was wondering whether the EU, like the U.S. and the U.N., had been wrong at the time in calling Israel not to enter Rafah, the place where Sinwar was killed.
The role of Iran
But both leaders referred to the role played in the region and elswhere by Iran, a topic that was discussed with Arab Gulf leaders on Wednesday during the first EU-Gulf Cooperation Council Summit in Brussels.
‘’We can see how Iran is a nuclear threat on one hand. Iran doesn’t accept the existence of Israel and wants to destroy Israel. We cannot accept this Iranian behavior. And Iran is using proxies to destabilize the region. That’s why our position is to support Israel, its right to exist and to defend itself in line with international law,’’ said Charles Michel.
‘’We know that we have to tackle these security concerns posed by Iran,” he added.
Von der Leyen continued by saying: ‘’This was very much the discussion today on the Middle East that the main actor behind all this is Iran and the proxies are Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis but also Iran supplying Russia with drones and supporting North Korea. This was a very clear aspect of the discusssions we had.’’