Is Donald Trump the reason Israel and Palestine finally agreed to a ceasefire?

Before he has even taken office, it appears Donald Trump has managed to strongarm Israel and Hamas into agreeing to a ceasefire after 15 months of carnage.

“This is a deal that, in its basic form, has been on the table for many months,” Josh Paul said in the Independent.

Paul resigned from the State Department in protest at Biden’s ongoing support of Israel’s lethal bombardment of Gaza after the October 7 attacks that saw 1139 Israelis slaughtered and 254 Israelis taken hostage.

In a vicious retaliation, Israel has relentlessly bombed the Gaza Strip, killing more than 45,000, according to official Hamas figures.

Paul added that “It is an absolute travesty that the Biden administration never used any of the massive leverage it had to push it over the finish line.”

So how much influence has Donald Trump really had in getting the two sides to come to an agreement that in its first stage involves a hostage-for-prisoner swap and a six-week halt in hostilities?

Diplomats involved in brokering the deal say that Trump played a key role in getting it over the line by dialing up the pressure on the Israeli government.

Far-right members of the Israeli coalition, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, have long threatened to topple Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government if a ceasefire is agreed.

But, according to the BBC, these far-right dissenters believe that keeping on the right side of Trump might go in their favor in the long term.

Following Trump’s November 5  victory at the polls, Smotrich declared that Trump would provide Israel with the opportunity to advance the annexation of illegal Jewish settlements in the ocupied West Bank, The Times of Israel reports.

The Israeli daily Haaretz reported that Trump’s chosen Middle East envoy Steven Witkoff leaned heavily on Netanyahu to accept a deal.

Haaretz spoke of “a change in the rules of the game that has broken the deadlock in the hostage negotiations.”

Taking a cynical view of Trump’s involvement in the ceasefire is Annelle Sheline who resigned from the State Department in February 2024: “Unfortunately, I think that Trump just wants this for his inauguration.”

“It will be a temporary reprieve,” she added. “That is to be celebrated, but I expect that Israel will resume its genocidal campaign of violence as soon as the inauguration is over and Trump has been able to say ‘I did what Biden couldn’t.”

Despite his detractors on the issue, Biden is also claiming credit for the truce. Asked who should be recognized for their role in the deal, he shot back with “Is that a joke?”

According to Time magazine, the deal is the result of complicated diplomacy that involved Biden’s team working closely with President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming team and also regional partners in Doha.

Meanwhile, Trump moved in quickly to take credit for a ceasefire that has seemed to lack sufficient political will from the Biden administration.

Posting on Truth Social, he said “We have a deal for the hostages in the Middle East. They will be released shortly. Thank you!”

Trump added that his Middle East envoy Witkoff would continue “to work closely with Israel and our Allies to make sure Gaza NEVER again becomes a terrorist safe haven,” Politico reports.

But Paul cautioned, “As important as a ceasefire is, what is even more important is what comes next: not only must the ceasefire be maintained, but there must be a real effort, backed by an international commitment, to surge humanitarian assistance into Gaza.”

He told The Independent that there needs to be “justice and accountability on behalf of all who have suffered since and before October 2023, to begin rebuilding the lost cities and towns of Gaza, and to achieve a just and lasting peace.”

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