The incoming US president Donald Trump has given Hamas a warning and threatened to be very angry (“all hell to pay”) if the hostages held in Gaza are not released before he returns to the White House on January 20. “The perpetrators will be hit harder than anyone has been hit in the long and storied history of the United States of America.”
President Trump’s broader goals regarding the Middle East include reaching a normalization agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel and trying again to make peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
The new agreement now being presented through Egypt is as follows in its main points:
- The agreement will begin with a temporary ceasefire that will last 45-60 days.
- During this time, the hostages who are alive will be released gradually/in stages. Previous agreements talked about 33 hostages. It is not clear whether it will reach that figure.
- In return, Israel will release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. The exchange ratio is still to be negotiated.
- One of the most dramatic clauses appears to be the opening of the Rafah border crossing (between Egypt and Gaza), and its placing under the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA).
President Trump announced that he would appoint Adam Boehler as the president’s special envoy for hostage issues; Gaza ceasefire talks are continuing. Qatar is also joining the talks as a mediator under pressure from the US and Britain.
Trump has also appointed real estate investor and billionaire Steven Witkoff – a Jewish and Zionist by background – as his special envoy to the Middle East. Trump had already appointed former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who has long rejected a Palestinian state in territory previously occupied by Israel, as the new ambassador to Israel.
President Trump’s activity even before the start of his term in office has been noticed among world political leaders, who are queuing up to speak to him instead of President Biden, who is still wandering around the White House.
