By Steve Holland and Kanishka Singh
DETROIT (Reuters) -Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Friday that the death of Palestinian Islamist group Hamas' leader Yahya Sinwar would make the prospect of peace easier in Gaza.
"I think it makes it easier," the former president told reporters as he arrived in Detroit for campaign events.
Sinwar, 62, the architect of the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, was killed in an Israeli operation in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday. Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack killed 1,200 with about 250 people taken as hostages, according to Israeli tallies. It triggered the latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Trump also said he plans to talk to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu soon. He praised the Israeli leader as doing a good job while attacking President Joe Biden's administration.
"He's called me. I haven't spoken to him. I'm going to speak to him probably now," Trump said. "Biden is trying to hold him back….and he probably should be doing the opposite actually."
Biden and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, who Trump faces in a tight race for the Nov. 5 U.S. election, have maintained strong support for Israel in its wars in Gaza and Lebanon. Still, Washington earlier this week sent a letter to Israel demanding that it improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza or face potential restrictions on U.S. military aid.
Israel's war in Gaza after the Oct. 7 attack has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry. It has also displaced Gaza's nearly entire 2.3 million population, caused a hunger crisis and led to genocide allegations at the World Court that Israel denies.
Israel also recently escalated its military campaign in Lebanon where over 2,000 have been killed and over a million displaced. Israel says it is targeting Lebanese Hezbollah militants, who have been engaged in cross-border fire with Israel for the past year.