Netanyahu vows to press on with wars in Gaza and Lebanon, dashing peace hopes after Hamas leader killed [Video]

Pledges from Israel and its enemies Hamas and Hezbollah to keep fighting in Gaza and Lebanon dashed hopes on Friday that the death of Palestinian militant leader Yahya Sinwar might hasten an end to more than a year of escalating war in the Middle East.

Israel’s arch-foe and the militants’ main backer Iran also said Sinwar’s death would only fuel “the spirit of resistance.”

Hamas leader Sinwar, a mastermind of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the Gaza war, was killed by Israeli soldiers in the Palestinian enclave on Wednesday.

Video showed him tossing a stick at a drone as he sat dying.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called his killing a milestone but vowed to keep up the war, which in recent weeks expanded from fighting Hamas in Gaza into an invasion and pursuit of Hezbollah of Lebanon.

“The war, my dear ones, is not yet over,” Netanyahu told Israelis late on Thursday, saying fighting would continue until …