The United States wants to kickstart talks on a proposal to achieve a ceasefire and the release of hostages in Gaza, the US State Department said Thursday after Israeli forces killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, with Israel indicating Secretary of State Antony Blinken could soon visit the region as part of efforts to do so.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told a regular press briefing that Sinwar had been the “chief obstacle” to reaching an end to the war, which began when the Hamas chief orchestrated the attack on southern Israel last year in which Palestinian terrorists killed about 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.

The Biden administration has worked unsuccessfully for months with mediators Qatar and Egypt to try to reach a deal that would see Israel cease military operations in Gaza in exchange the release of hostages taken by Hamas during the October 7 massacres.

In recent weeks, Sinwar had refused to negotiate at all, Miller said.

“That obstacle has obviously been removed. Can’t predict that that means whoever replaces (Sinwar) will agree to a ceasefire, but it does remove what has been in recent months the chief obstacle to getting one,” he said.

Washington would now “redouble” its efforts and try to push forward the ceasefire proposal “that has been on the table for some time,” Miller said, without detailing the proposal.

“I don’t want to predict too much what our efforts will look like over the course of the days because we are just hours after what is a seismic event that changes the nature of this conflict, but we believe it is an opportunity to try and bring an end to this war, and we’re determined to try and seize that opportunity,” Miller said.

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.

The top American diplomat also phoned President Isaac Herzog, according to an Israeli readout, which said he congratulated Israel’s head of state on the killing of Sinwar.

Blinken told Herzog that the killing brings justice to Sinwar’s victims and stressed that the world is a better place with him gone, Herzog’s office said.

Herzog told Blinken that Israel’s top priority is now freeing the remaining 101 hostages, adding that there is “an important opportunity” to do so following Sinwar’s killing.

Blinken informed Herzog that he is considering visiting the region again soon in light of the killing, the Israeli readout added.

There was no immediate US statement on the call.

In similar remarks to Miller’s, US National Security Adviser earlier told reporters that Sinwar “was a massive obstacle to peace.”

“Now that that obstacle has been removed, President Biden looks forward to talking to Prime Minister Netanyahu about how we secure the return of the hostages and end the war,” he said.

After Biden phoned Netanyahu to congratulate him about Sinwar’s killing, the Prime Minister’s Office said the two agreed that there was an opportunity now to move toward a hostage deal, and that they will work together to achieve one.

“Now it’s time to move forward. I hope he ends the war soon,” Biden told reporters.

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, who is considered a close associate of Biden, published an opinion piece saying the administration is hoping Sinwar’s death can lead to far more than a settlement in Gaza.

“[Sinwar’s killing] creates the possibility for the biggest step toward a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians since Oslo, as well as normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia — which means pretty much the entire Muslim world,” he wrote.

Citing unnamed American, Arab and Israeli sources, Friedman said that the US, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE have been holding talks over the past month on how “to rebuild a post-Hamas Gaza, pave the way for Saudi-Israeli normalization, and create the conditions for another attempt by Israel and the Palestinians to negotiate a different future in both Gaza and the West Bank.”

According to Friedman, the Palestinian Authority would first appoint a new head of “a new technocratic cabinet” to reform the PA, “root out corruption and upgrade its governance and security forces.” This reformed PA would then request and participate in an international peacekeeping mission that would be composed of troops from the UAE, Egypt and potentially additional Arab and some European countries.

The peacekeeping force would then gradually take control of Gaza from Israeli forces, while the PA would be tasked with rebuilding the enclave with the backing of Arab and European nations. Friedman said the US could also contribute.

“A reformed Palestinian Authority, with massive Arab and international funds, would attempt to restore its credibility in Gaza, and the credibility of its core Fatah organization in Palestinian politics — and sideline the remnants of Hamas,” Friedman wrote.

The columnist said that Arab and US diplomats have discussed the matter with Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, a top Netanyahu adviser, adding that “it requires Israel, for now, only to quietly permit the involvement of the Palestinian Authority in the rebuilding of Gaza as part of the international force — not to formally embrace it.”

“Netanyahu understands, though, that the Arabs will participate in an Arab/international peacekeeping force to clean up the mess in Gaza only if it is part of a process leading to Palestinian statehood,” he said.

Friedman went on to stress that “a diplomatic initiative to end the war along these lines — and engineer a Saudi-Israel normalization and Arab peacekeeping force — will eventually require Israeli commitment to a pathway to Palestinian statehood,” which he noted Netanyahu’s far-right allies are strongly opposed to.

“Netanyahu has long wanted to show that he is a historic figure, not just a tactician always maneuvering to stay alive politically — but never ready to take a big risk to change history,” he said. “Well, this is his moment.”

Friedman ended the column by writing that he was feeling “newly hopeful” for an end of the war and a hostage deal, “and if the respective leaders rise to this moment, there could be a lot more to be hopeful about.”