A senior administration official told NBC News on Friday that pressure from President-elect Donald Trump was a big role in Hamas’s reluctance on two crucial topics during ceasefire and hostage-release negotiations with Israel.
Senior Biden administration officials traveled throughout the Middle East this week in an attempt to finalize the crucial agreement by the end of 2024, giving the deal new hope.
Hamas has now consented to Israeli forces remaining in the Gaza Strip briefly after fighting finishes and to provide a full list of hostages, including Americans, who would be released, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not allowed to speak to the media.The first to report on the compromises Hamas was willing to make was the Wall Street Journal.
The Biden administration official told NBC News that Trump’s warning that he wants to see a deal before he takes office was a major factor in recent concessions, saying, “There is a confidence we have not seen since May when the president [Joe Biden] presented his proposal.”
This optimism was not universal.
Another American official cautioned that we are not yet there.
The negotiators were closer, but I’m really wary because we’ve been close before.
Biden has not resisted his successor’s attempts to participate in negotiations, despite the fact that the Oval Office can only have one occupant at a time and Trump won’t become office until January 20.
Hamas political wing member Dr. Basem Naim told NBC News that he was unaware of the group’s recent compromises during talks.
Biden has not resisted his successor’s attempts to participate in negotiations, despite the fact that the Oval Office can only have one occupant at a time and Trump won’t become office until January 20.
Trump posted the following on Truth Social earlier this month: “Everyone is talking about the hostages who are being held in the Middle East in such a violent, inhumane, and against the will of the entire world, but it’s all talk, and no action!”
“There will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East and for those in charge who committed these atrocities against humanity if the hostages are not freed before January 20, 2025, the day I proudly take office as President of the United States,” he continued.
According to the senior administration official, the compromise by Hamas was also influenced by recent events in the area, such as the demise of Hamas, the weakening of Iran, the terrorist organization’s longtime patron, the devaluation of Hezbolla, and the overthrow of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
The Biden administration has had excellent coordination and consultation with the incoming Trump team, according to national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Thursday.
Speaking from Tel Aviv, Sullivan stated, “We discuss with them how we can convey a shared message that the United States, regardless of who is in the White House or whose party is in power, wants to see this ceasefire and hostage deal and see it now, and that is all part of the American contribution to an effort to ultimately produce an outcome here.” And until we finish it, we will not stop working.
According to an Israeli official who spoke to NBC News, the most recent ceasefire plan is based on U.S. recommendations from earlier this year. In recent weeks, Mossad and Shin Bet leaders visited Cairo to explore the possible deal.
Sullivan stated at a news conference in Tel Aviv on Thursday that the United States intends to finalize the deal by the end of the month. Sullivan will travel to Cairo for additional talks on the agreement after meeting with the prime minister of Qatar in Doha on Friday.
A chronology was not provided by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has visited the Middle East over ten times since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.
“We’ve seen more encouraging signs that [a ceasefire] is possible in the last couple of weeks,” Blinken said Friday following his meeting with his Turkish counterpart. Blinken will meet with his Arab counterparts in Aqaba, Jordan, on Saturday to discuss the next steps for a future Gaza.
For months, negotiations have been going on to gain the release of the remaining captives that Hamas took after the Oct. 7 raid. Approximately 1,200 Israelis lost their lives in the incident.
According to relief organizations and health experts, the war that followed the strike has killed nearly 45,000 people in Gaza, with women and children accounting for more than half of the deaths. The bulk of the Palestinian population has been forced from their houses, and much of the enclave has been destroyed.
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