Ceasefire and hostage agreement between Israel and Hamas confirmed by Donald Trump

There’s nothing from the White House yet, but the new president of the United States says a peace deal was reached today in the Middle East.

As rumors circulated that Israel and Hamas had reached a ceasefire agreement providing for the release of hostages held since October 7, 2023, Donald Trump jumped in front of the official announcement and turned to the social networks.

“We have a deal for hostages in the Middle East,” says 45^th and 47^th POTUS said five days before he was sworn in for the second time.

As Joe Biden’s team pressed for time to reach an agreement before the 46^th POTUS leaves office, Trump has been repeating for weeks that “all hell will break loose” if the hundreds of hostages are not released by noon on January 20^th. As likely new Secretary of State Marco Rubio noted during his confirmation hearing upon hearing the news, Trump’s advisers have worked closely with current Secretary of State Tony’s team Blinken to seal the deal, with the Qatari government acting as a key intermediary.

A fact that Trump noted in a following article:

The Qataris are expected to give a press briefing soon to formalize the agreement. President Biden will also address the cameras within the hour, the White House says. On the other hand, Hamas appears to have strengthened its forces and filled the ranks crushed by the Israelis.

Under the terms of the agreement, 33 hostages should be released this weekend, constituting the first group targeted by the interim plan in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by the Israelis. Of all the hostages, two are American citizens. If fulfilled, the deal is expected to take place in three phases, with a halt to IDF bombing of decimated Gaza for at least six weeks – if Israel’s fractured cabinet adopts the ceasefire and it becomes permanent with the help of Arab nations. According to reports from Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says a ceasefire agreement has not yet been reached, that final details remain pending, but that he hopes that ” details will be finalized this evening.”

After 466 days of war in the region following the deadly October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas, which saw more than 250 people taken hostage, mass rapes and more than 1,200 deaths. The attack was “the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust,” according to the State Department. A thunderous response from the Jewish state led to the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians, plunging the Middle East once again into turmoil. As the Biden administration attempted to hammer out a peace deal, protests on U.S. campuses and in the streets were accompanied by a deplorable rise in anti-Semitism across the Western world.

Since the October 7 attack on Israel, 117 hostages have been freed, including 100 during a week-long ceasefire in late November in an exchange for 240 Palestinians. Dozens and dozens of hostages, of all ages and backgrounds, have died or been killed in the 15 months since their capture.

This seemingly incremental deal and the pause toward a potential greater peace is pretty much what has been on the table for several months with much of the trappings of the plan outlined by President Biden last year.

With a clear indication of the so-called “Trump effect” on the same day that President Biden is scheduled to deliver his farewell speech, cable news has raged over the deal. Focused on the Trump cabinet confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill, Fox News came in a bit later than CNN, the BBC and MSNBC, but was in full coverage mode within minutes.

“It’s now Trump’s ceasefire,” Alex Marquardt said this morning on CNN, summing up the reality of realpolitik. “He will have to implement it. He will have to put pressure on the parties so that this is maintained.

“It’s Biden’s structure, but it’s now going to be owned by the Trump administration,” CNN’s chief national security correspondent added.