The US military says its forces played no role in the Israeli operation that killed Hamas leader Yahya Shinwar, even though US intelligence helped Israel identify the Hamas leaders it took hostage last year.
“This was an Israeli operation. There (were) no U.S. forces directly involved,” said Air Force Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman.
“The United States has been instrumental in contributing information and evidence regarding the recovery of the hostages and in identifying and tracking the Hamas leaders responsible for the hostage taking. And that certainly contributes largely to the picture.”
“But again, this was an Israeli operation. And I’m going to direct them to talk about the details of how the business developed.”
Contact Biden-Netanyahu
The president Joe Biden spoke with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after confirming the death of Hamas leader Yahya Shinwar on Thursday, a US official said.
Biden and Netanyahu agreed that Sinwar’s death created a opportunity to press for the release of hostages in Gaza and that they will work together to achieve this goal, Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.