Killing of Hamas political leader points to diverging paths for Israel, US on cease-fire

Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Israel’s suspected killing of Hamas’ political leader in the heart of Tehran points to an Israeli government ever more openly at odds with diplomatic efforts by the Biden administration to calm the region. The reported assassination of Ismail Haniyeh comes as the Hamas figure was on a state visit to Iran. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Americans had not been aware of or involved in the alleged attack. Blinken says the Biden administration is convinced that a cease-fire in Gaza remains the best way to calm the region. Vali Nasr, a former U.S. diplomat now at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, says Haniyeh was the principal figure for Hamas in the talks, making a cease-fire unfeasible now.