Trump And Biden Claim Credit For Gaza Ceasefire Deal
President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump are both claiming credit for Israel and Hamas agreeing to a ceasefire deal in Gaza after the White House brought Trump’s Middle East envoy into negotiations that have dragged on for months.
Trump wasted no time in asserting he was the moving force behind the deal, whose final details were still being ironed out, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
“This EPIC ceasefire agreement could have only happened as a result of our Historic Victory in November, as it signaled to the entire World that my Administration would seek Peace and negotiate deals to ensure the safety of all Americans, and our Allies,” Trump wrote on social media. “I am thrilled American and Israeli hostages will be returning home to be reunited with their families and loved ones.”
Trump added that his incoming Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, would continue “to work closely with Israel and our Allies to make sure Gaza NEVER again becomes a terrorist safe haven.”
Biden stressed in a statement that a deal was reached under “the precise contours” of a plan that he set out in late in May.
“It is the result not only of the extreme pressure that Hamas has been under and the changed regional equation after a ceasefire in Lebanon and weakening of Iran — but also of dogged and painstaking American diplomacy,” Biden said. “My diplomacy never ceased in their efforts to get this done.”
Later in remarks at the White House, Biden said his administration negotiated the deal but that Trump’s team will soon be charged with making sure it’s implemented, a nod to Witkoff being a partner in the talks.
“For the past few days, we have been speaking as one team,” Biden said.
The Biden administration’s open embrace of incoming Trump team involvement in the talks was rooted in far more than the president-elect’s influence with Netanyahu and his threats that there would be “hell to pay” if a deal wasn’t done by Inauguration Day, which is in five days, three current U.S. officials said.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to offer candid details, said their interest in having Witkoff participate in the talks alongside Biden’s Mideast point man, Brett McGurk, was primarily designed to ensure that an agreement — which will require a lengthy American commitment — would have continued U.S. support after Biden leaves office.
