BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - President Joe Biden has said that he is sending Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Israel with the mission of exploring ways to end the hostage crisis, and how to secure Gaza after the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
Biden announced this after landing at Berlin Brandenberg International Airport in Schonefeld, Germany, Thursday.
According to him, 'It's a good day for the world.....He has a lot of blood on his hands - American blood, Israeli blood, and others'.
Biden said he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to congratulate him on the mission conducted in Gaza that killed the Hamas leader.
'And I told him that we were really pleased with his actions and, further, that now is the time to move on, move towards a ceasefire in Gaza, make sure that we move in a direction that we're going to be in a position to make things better for the whole world'.
'It's time for this war to end and bring these hostages home. And I'm sending Tony Blinken to Israel - I guess he's going in four or five days. And I talked with Bibi about that. We're going to work out what is the day after now, how do we secure Gaza and move on,' he told reporters.
Biden said he feels more hopeful about a ceasefire, and has a sense of the war ending very soon.
The White House said in a press release that the two leaders also 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. They agreed to remain in close contact over the coming days both directly and through their national security teams.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said at a briefing en route Berlin that it was Sinwar who repeatedly stood in the way of making progress towards a ceasefire and hostage deal.
'At various points along the way, Sinwar was more interested in causing mayhem and chaos and death than in actually trying to achieve a ceasefire and hostage deal'.
'What we do know is that the broad military structure, the battalions of Hamas have been systematically dismantled. We do know that Hamas does not pose the kind of threat to Israel that it posed on October 7th or anything close to it. We also know that there are still Hamas terrorists wielding guns and holding hostages and harboring a desire to continue to attack Israel and attack others,' he told reporters.
Sullivan added that the United States now need to work with Israel, Qatar, Egypt, and its European partners to secure the release of the hostages.
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