On January 15, 2025, Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire deal in Gaza. Negotiations happened in Qatar with the significant help of the US President-elect Trump and his team. Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, informed that the exchange of hostages and prisoners will start from Sunday.
This urgent and significant ceasefire can be interpreted as the larger vision of Trump’s foreign policy, which is to bring peace and solve the ongoing conflict worldwide. Trump repeatedly mentioned that if he had been in the White House, the war would not have broken out between Israel and Hamas.
Last week, Trump, in a statement, said, “If Hostages held by Hamas are not returned in two weeks, all hell will break out in the Middle East. It will not be good for Hamas, and it will not be good for anyone.”
The deal can be seen through the lens of the statement where he wanted to break a deal and, at the same time, threatening Hamas with consequences if they disagreed.
The role of President-elect Trump has been acknowledged by the US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller. He praised President-elect Donald Trump’s team for the “critical” role played in brokering a ceasefire and hostage agreement between Israel and Hamas.
“When it comes to the involvement of President-Elect Trump’s team, it has been absolutely critical in getting this deal over the line. It’s been critical because obviously, as I stand here today, this administration’s term in office will expire in five days,” Miller said during a press briefing.
He added, “We, of course, thank the Trump team for working with us on this ceasefire agreement. We think it’s important that they were at the table. It shows that when Americans are willing to work together across partisan lines, as we were willing to do on this occasion because it’s in the national interests of the United States, a lot can get done.”
The deal would bring to a pause a devastating 15-month war in the Gaza Strip and raise the possibility of winding down the deadliest and most destructive fighting between the bitter enemies.
During the press conference, Qatar’s PM said, “The two belligerents in the Gaza Strip have reached a deal on the prisoner and the hostage swap, and (the mediators) announce a ceasefire in the hopes of reaching a permanent ceasefire between the two sides.”
From the Israeli side, cabinet approval is a prerequisite for finalising the deal. The cabinet was about to meet today (Thursday) to finalise and look into the presented details. However, Netanyahu said his cabinet won’t meet to approve the agreement until Hamas backs down.
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He said on Thursday that a “last-minute crisis” with Hamas was holding up Israeli approval of a long-awaited agreement to pause the fighting in the Gaza Strip and release dozens of hostages. Israeli airstrikes, meanwhile, killed dozens of people across the war-ravaged territory.
According to this Ceasefire deal reached on Wednesday, 33 hostages are set to be released over the next six weeks in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Israeli forces will pull back from many areas, and the displaced Palestinians would be able to return to their homes, ending the long drawn clash that has damaged the lives of thousands of families on both sides.