By Rabia Iclal Turan
WASHINGTON (AA) - The US said Thursday it will try to push a ceasefire and hostage exchange proposal forward in the Gaza Strip and that the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar provided an opportunity to end the war.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller noted that a US-backed cease-fire proposal has been on the table since May and emphasized the potential for progress now that Sinwar is no longer in the equation.
"I don't want to predict too much what our efforts will look like over the course. It is because we are just hours after what is a seismic event that changes the nature of this conflict," Miller told reporters.
He added, however, that the US believes it is an "opportunity to try and bring an end to this war."
"We're determined to try and seize that opportunity," he added.
Miller said there would be "tough decisions" that the Israelis will need to make to get an agreement to end the war.
"We have made clear a number of times that we will have very direct, candid conversations though, about the need to make those tough decisions, but we weren't even in a place to do that when you have no one at the other end of the table willing to even agree to negotiate," he added.
Israel announced that it killed Sinwar earlier Thursday in southern Gaza.
Sinwar became Hamas’ political chief in August, succeeding Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in the Iranian capital of Tehran after he attended the swearing-in ceremony of Iran’s new president on July 31.
Israel has continued a brutal offensive on Gaza following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, last October, which killed nearly 1,200 people, according to Israeli figures.
More than 42,400 people have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 99,000 injured, according to Gaza health authorities.
The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the Gaza Strip amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine.
Mediation efforts led by the US, Egypt and Qatar to reach a Gaza cease-fire and prisoner swap agreement between Israel and Hamas have failed in recent months.