Pressure from newly elected President Donald Trump was a major factor in Hamas relenting on two key issues during ceasefire and hostage release talks with Israel, a senior administration official told NBC News on Friday.
New hopes for a deal had senior Biden administration officials fanning out across the Middle East this week with the aim of sealing a crucial pact by the end of 2024.
According to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media, Hamas has now agreed to allow Israeli forces to remain temporarily in the Gaza Strip after the fighting ends, and to provide a full list of hostages, including Americans, who will. be released. The Wall Street Journal was the first to report on the concessions Hamas was willing to make.
A congratulatory sign in Tel Aviv shows Trump.
“There is a confidence that we haven’t seen since May, when the president became president [Joe Biden] presented his proposal,” the Biden administration official told NBC News, acknowledging that Trump’s warning that he wants to see a deal before taking office was “a big factor” in the recent concessions.
Not everyone shared this optimism.
“We’re not there yet,” another US official warned.
The negotiators were “closer,” but “we’ve been close before, so I’m very cautious.”
The Oval Office has only one occupant at a time and Trump won’t take over until January 20, but Biden has shown respect for including his successor in the negotiations and has not pushed back on his efforts to join the talks.
Basem Naim, a member of Hamas’s political wing, told NBC News that he was unaware that the group had recently made concessions in negotiations.
This month, Trump wrote on Truth Social: “Everyone is talking about the hostages being held in the Middle East so violently, inhumanely and against the will of the entire world – but it’s all talk and no action!”
“If the hostages are not released by January 20, 2025, the date I proudly assume office as President of the United States, there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrate this committed atrocities against humanity,” he added.
A destroyed street in Gaza City.
Recent developments in the region, including the weakening of Iran, the terror group’s long-time backer, the demotion of Hezbollah and the fall of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad have also contributed to Hamas’s compromise, the senior government official said.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan said Thursday that the Biden administration has had “very good consultation and coordination” with the new Trump team.
“We’re talking to them about how we can send a common message that the United States, regardless of who’s in the Oval Office, regardless of whose party is in charge, wants to see this ceasefire and the hostage agreement and wants to see it now , which is to say, it’s all part of the American contribution to an effort to finally get an outcome here,” Sullivan said from Tel Aviv. “And we’ll keep working until we get it done.”
The latest ceasefire proposal follows US proposals earlier this year, an Israeli official told NBC News. Both the leaders of the internal security service Shin Bet and the Mossad traveled to Cairo in recent weeks to discuss the possible agreement.
The US hopes to finalize the deal before the end of the month, Sullivan said at a news conference in Tel Aviv on Thursday. Sullivan met with the Qatari prime minister in Doha on Friday and will then travel to Cairo for further discussions on the deal.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has traveled to the Middle East more than a dozen times since the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, did not provide a timeline.
“What we have seen in recent weeks are encouraging signs of this [a ceasefire] is possible,” Blinken said on Friday after meeting with his Turkish counterpart. Blinken will discuss the next steps for a future Gaza with his Arab counterparts in Aqaba, Jordan, on Saturday.
Negotiations to secure the release of the remaining hostages captured by Hamas in the October 7 attack have been languishing for months. The attack killed about 1,200 people in Israel.
Nearly 45,000 people have been killed in Gaza, more than half of them women and children, according to health officials and aid groups. Much of the Palestinian enclave has been destroyed and a majority of the population has been driven from their homes.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
