WASHINGTON - The US military said on Oct 17 its forces had no role in the Israeli operation that killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, even if US intelligence has contributed to Israel's understanding of Hamas leaders who took hostages in 2023.

       “This was an Israeli operation. There (were) no US forces directly involved,” said Air Force Major-General Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman.

       “The United States has helped contribute information and intelligence as it relates to hostage recovery and the tracking and locating of Hamas leaders who have been responsible for holding hostages. And so certainly that contributes in general to the picture.”

       “But again, this was an Israeli operation. And I would refer you to them to talk about the details of how the operation went down,” Maj-Gen Ryder said.

       His comment followed US President Joe Biden’s statement on Sinwar’s death in which Mr Biden said that after Hamas’ Oct 7, 2023, assault into Israel, he ordered US special operations and intelligence personnel to aid Israel’s hunt for Sinwar and other militant leaders.

       The United States wants to kick-start talks on a proposal to achieve a ceasefire and the release of hostages in Gaza, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said on Oct 17, after the death of Hamas leader Sinwar, which he called a “seismic event”.

       Mr Miller told a regular press briefing that Sinwar had been the “chief obstacle” to reaching an end to the war, which began when Sinwar orchestrated an attack on southern Israel in which Palestinian militants killed about 1,200 people and took 250 hostages.

       The Biden administration has worked unsuccessfully for months with mediators Qatar and Egypt to try to reach a deal that would see Israel cease operations in Gaza in exchange the release of hostages taken by Hamas in the attack just over a year ago.

       In recent weeks, Sinwar had refused to negotiate at all, Mr Miller said.

       “That obstacle has obviously been removed. Can’t predict that that means whoever replaces (Sinwar) will agree to a ceasefire, but it does remove what has been in recent months the chief obstacle to getting one,” he said.

       Washington would now “redouble” its efforts and try to push forward the ceasefire proposal “that has been on the table for some time”, Mr Miller said, without detailing the proposal.

       “I don’t want to predict too much what our efforts will look like over the course of the days because we are just hours after what is a seismic event that changes the nature of this conflict, but we believe it is an opportunity to try and bring an end to this war, and we’re determined to try and seize that opportunity,” he said. REUTERS