The lissues about which outgoing Democrat President Joe Biden and incoming Republican President Donald Trump disagree is pretty extensive. And the matter of who led the U.S. in brokering the Israel-Hamas ceasefire can now be added to the list.
Biden officials, to be sure, have been magnanimous, saying the Trump team indeed helped close the deal after nearly 16 months of war between the sides in Gaza.
As recently as Sunday, just as the first Israeli hostages were being released,Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer said the Trump team provided “significant support.” However, he also made clear, Biden, was in the driver’s seat.
“We [have] been, you know, very transparent about that. We’ve kept them fully up to speed,” Finer told ABC News. But “ultimately, at the end of the day, it was our team that was in the driver’s seat for the negotiations directed by President Biden, with their support.”
Early last week, news broke that negotiators had reached a tentative deal. But it was not made final until Saturday when Israel’s government cast a final vote of approval, setting up the first round of hostage releases, barely 24 hours before Trump is set to be inaugurated for his second term.
Still there’s little doubt Trump helped get the deal over the finish line.
He didn’t wait long after his November 2024 election victory to demand the release of the hostages he officially takes office Monday.
“If the hostages are not released prior to Jan. 20 … there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in early December.
To make good on his promise, the president-elect dispatched Steven Witkoff, the incoming Middle East envoy, to meet with Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu, then sit in on the peace negotiations in Doha, Qatar, that produced the final deal. It worked.
“Witkoff delivered a stern message from the incoming president of the United States, who unequivocally demanded the deal’s conclusion,” a senior Israeli government official is quoted as saying after the deal had been struck.
The Biden administration had been pushing for a ceasefire for months, first releasing a proposal for a peace deal that was broadly reflected in the final version of the deal back in May. And Biden was quick to stake a claim for credit for the deal when it was signed on Wednesday. “My diplomacy never ceased in … efforts to get this done,” the president said in a statement released by the U.S. embassy in Israel.
But it is also clear that small details that seemed like non-negotiable sticking points in recent months were suddenly on the table with the involvement of Witkoff – who has a reputation as “a smart, personable and talented negotiator from his work as a real-estate investor and developer.
Netanyahu and his supporters “came to realize that Trump speaks at dictation pace and that they will never be able to outflank him from the right,” Nadav Eyal, an op-ed writer for Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said.
Now comes the hard part, according to analysts.
While there may be room for discussion about which leader deserves how much credit in the process that led to the ceasefire talks, the Trump administration will be the one to take the next steps.
“Now we’re going to have to really face the depth of indescribable pain of everything that has been lost,” said Arwa Damon, co-founder of the International Network for Aid, Relief, and Assistance, a humanitarian organization.
“There’s also the knowledge that nothing is entirely guaranteed,” Damon also said. “The fact that bombs will no longer be falling on Gaza is something that people have been craving. But they’ve also been craving food, blankets, warmth, and access to medical care.”
The deal itself is divided into three stages, starting with the release of 33 hostages – women, children, the ill and wounded, and men over the age of 55 – as well as the ramping up of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Next, Israeli troops will pull back to serve as a buffer, the remaining hostages (including two U.S. nationals) will be released, and Israel will begin releasing Palestinian hostages.
In the third stage, the process of rebuilding Gaza will start under the supervision of Egypt, Qatar, and the United Nations – but not, notably, the U.S. – and Israel will completely withdraw from Gaza.
By all accounts, the ceasefire pact is a delicate one, and the risk it could collapse if there’s a surprise attack or if the two sides can’t reach an agreement on remaining details continues to cast a dark shadow. It will be up to Trump, Witkoff, and other incoming officials to keep those risks to a minimum.
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