Presidential pressure tactics against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu succeeded in forcing a historic Gaza ceasefire and hostage exchange agreement with Hamas, White House officials revealed Thursday. Trump's "maximum pressure" approach over recent weeks compelled Israeli compliance after a September strike on Qatar infuriated the administration and regional Arab partners, according to The Washington Post.
Senior administration officials indicated the relationship dynamics between isolated Israel and its primary military backer became clear to both leaders following Netanyahu's unauthorized attack on Hamas negotiators in Doha. "Without the United States, Israel will not exist. And you don't have to say that," one official stated, adding that Netanyahu "is smart enough to know that the president holds all the cards. The last thing he can afford to do is lose the president," The Washington Post reported.
Trump announced plans to visit Egypt and Israel within days to celebrate the breakthrough, crediting his transactional dealmaking approach for ending the deadliest Israeli-Palestinian conflict since 1948. "We reached a momentous breakthrough in the Middle East, something that people said was never going to be done. We ended the war in Gaza and really, on a much bigger basis, created peace," Trump told his cabinet Thursday, according to The Washington Post. The president indicated 20 remaining hostages would gain freedom Monday or Tuesday, to be followed by the return of about 30 more deceased hostages. Israel will release some 2,000 terrorists, including perpetrators of major attacks that killed many.
The diplomatic success emerged from Trump's willingness to pressure Netanyahu while leveraging personal relationships with Arab leaders through direct phone calls and text messages. "Personal calls. Texts on his cellphone. He makes himself very accessible, and I think that goes a long way. There's a level of trust that the president has with these world leaders," the senior White House official explained to The Washington Post. Final negotiations in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh involved Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner in a 20-hour marathon session.
The agreement divides implementation into phases, with initial ceasefire, partial Israeli withdrawal and prisoner exchanges followed by longer-term Hamas disarmament and Palestinian Authority governance establishment in Gaza, according to The Washington Post. US Central Command will deploy 200 service members to form a joint task force with Egyptian, Qatari, Turkish and Emirati forces, with Americans remaining in Israel to "oversee, observe, make sure there are no violations or incursions."
While Trump achieved the breakthrough that eluded former president Joe Biden's administration, analysts credit both timing and Trump's forceful personality for success. "The honest answer is it's a confluence of both" time and Trump, stated Brian Katulis, a Middle East Institute senior fellow, according to The Washington Post. However, questions remain whether "Donald Trump declares victory … and then walks away. Because if he does, none of these other steps will happen," warned a person familiar with implementation complexities.
