(AFP) – US President-elect Donald Trump said Thursday that the ceasefire and hostage release agreement between Israel and Hamas would have never been reached without pressure from him and his incoming administration. The agreement, which would exchange Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, awaits approval by Israel’s security cabinet before taking effect, after which the terms of a permanent end to the war would be negotiated.
Four days away from being inaugurated for a second term, Trump told the Dan Bongino Show that negotiations would have never finalized without pressure from his team, including Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. “If we weren’t involved in this deal, the deal would’ve never happened,” Trump said. “We changed the course of it, and we changed it fast, and frankly, it better be done before I take the oath of office,” he added.
Israel’s security cabinet was set to meet Friday to discuss the terms of the ceasefire, which would go into effect Sunday at the earliest, just before Trump’s presidential inauguration on Monday. Trump also blasted outgoing President Joe Biden for taking credit for the ceasefire agreement, calling him “ungracious” and saying: “He didn’t do anything! If I didn’t do this, if we didn’t get involved, the hostages would never be out.” Biden had proposed a ceasefire agreement last May with terms that mirrored the deal reached this week.
The ceasefire agreement under discussion proposes an initial 42-day ceasefire that would see the release of 33 hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza’s population centers. The second phase of the agreement could bring a “permanent end to the war,” Biden said. In an interview with MSNBC on Thursday, Biden stated that he had not had any recent discussions with Trump about the ceasefire negotiations.
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