US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has stated that the United States was not aware of or involved in the killing of Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran. Blinken, during an interview with Channel News Asia in Singapore, asserted, “This is something we were not aware of or involved in.” He emphasized the importance of a ceasefire to prevent further escalation, outlining the potential for the conflict to spread beyond Gaza. “We’ve been working from day one not only to try to get to a better place in Gaza but also to prevent the conflict from spreading, whether it’s the north with Lebanon and Hezbollah, whether it’s the Red Sea with the Houthis, whether it’s Iran, Syria, Iraq, you name it,” Blinken said. He highlighted that achieving a ceasefire is vital for bringing the hostages home and alleviating the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza. “A big key to trying to make sure that that doesn’t happen, and that we can move to a better place, is getting the ceasefire,” Blinken said. Hamas, meanwhile, has alleged that Haniyeh was killed by an Israeli air strike during the inauguration of Iran’s new president. The group has blamed Israel for the attack, labeling it “cowardly” and vowing retaliation. Israel’s Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, however, has vowed to destroy Hamas in response to the October 7 attacks on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza. These attacks resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Militants also seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom remain captive in Gaza, including 39 that the military claims are dead. Israel’s retaliatory campaign has led to the deaths of at least 39,400 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. Blinken emphasized the far-reaching consequences of the conflict and the need for a resolution. “It’s manifestly in the interests of the hostages and bringing them home, it’s manifestly in the interests of Palestinians who are suffering terribly every single day, children, women, men in Gaza,” he said. “It’s profoundly in the interest of trying to put things on a better path not only in Gaza, but actually throughout the region, because so much is tied to what’s happening in Gaza right now.”
