By Jeff Mason and Nandita Bose
BERLIN/MILWAUKEE (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris said on Thursday that the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar set the stage for the return of Israeli hostages and an end to the war in Gaza.
The killing of Sinwar, a mastermind of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the Gaza war by Israeli forces in the Palestinian enclave marks a major success for Israel and a milestone in the yearlong conflict.
“Now’s the time to move on. Move on, move towards a ceasefire in Gaza, make sure that we are moving in a direction that we’re going to be able to make things better for the whole world,” Biden told reporters after landing in Germany, following a phone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the wake of Sinwar’s killing in the Gaza strip.
“It’s time for this war to end and bring these hostages home. So that’s what we’re ready to do.”
Asked if he felt more hopeful about a ceasefire, Biden said he did, and said the war would end “hopefully very soon.”
Biden said he was sending his top diplomat, Antony Blinken, to Israel in four or five days and that talks would include post-war arrangements for Gaza.
“We’re going to work out … what is the day after now. How do we secure Gaza and move on,” he said.
After months of starts and stops, ceasefire negotiations have not succeeded and have shown no signs of movement in weeks.
With Sinwar, whom U.S. officials say was the main stumbling block to talks, out of the way, Washington will “redouble” efforts to push forward a ceasefire proposal, the State Department said.
But Netanyahu, who at times also has been accused of stalling on a deal, on Thursday said the war would go on. A statement from his office, after he spoke to Biden, said the two leaders agreed that Sinwar’s death has created an opportunity to push for the release of hostages in Gaza and that they would work together to achieve that goal.
A White House readout of the call said they “discussed how to use this moment to bring the hostages home and to bring the war to a close with Israel’s security assured and Hamas never again able to control Gaza.”
Speaking on the sidelines of campaign events for her 2024 presidential campaign in Milwaukee, Harris reinforced the point.
“This moment gives us an opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza,” Harris said.
‘CHIEF OBSTACLE’
It was not immediately clear how Washington intended to restart efforts to secure the release of hostages and obtain a ceasefire.
In recent weeks, the Biden administration has publicly blamed Sinwar for stalling talks but has privately also doubted Netanyahu’s willingness to do a deal.
The ongoing conflict in the Middle East has been a political liability for the Biden administration ahead of the Nov. 5 U.S. elections. Harris faces intense pressure from Arab American, Muslim and liberal voters over the Biden administration’s weapons aid and diplomatic support for Israel amid conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon.
The Hamas attack last year killed 1,200 people in Israel and ended with the capture of more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s assault on Hamas-governed Gaza has killed more than 42,000 people, the local health ministry has said, while displacing nearly its entire population and causing a hunger crisis. In Lebanon, where Israel said it is targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants, the death toll is over 2,000, according to the Lebanese government.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Washington would now “redouble” its efforts and try to push forward a proposal “that has been on the table for some time.”
Secretary of State Blinken has already spoken to the foreign ministers of Qatar and Saudi Arabia about bringing an end to the war and post-war arrangements for Gaza, Miller said.
“We see an opportunity now that we want to seize to try to secure the release of the hostages,” said Biden national security adviser Jake Sullivan. “We will have to work to ensure that his death actually does deal the kind of long-term blow to Hamas that all of us would like to see.”
(Reporting by Jeff Mason aboard Air Force One and Nandita Bose in Milwaukee; additional reporting by Daphne Psaledakis and Humeyra Pamuk; Writing by Trevor Hunnicutt and Simon Lewis; Editing by Don Durfee; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Leslie Adler)
