GOP senator: Trump wants Gaza hostage-ceasefire deal before inauguration

US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who was in Israel this week and met with top officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayhu, tells the Axios news site that US president-elect Donald Trump wants to see a Gaza hostage-ceasefire deal before he re-enters the White House in January.

“Trump is more determined than ever to release the hostages and supports a ceasefire that includes a hostage deal. He wants to see it happening now,” Graham tells Axios.

“I want people in Israel and in the region to know that Trump is focused on the hostages issue. He wants the killing to stop and the fighting to end,” he says. “I hope President Trump and the Biden administration will work together during the transition period to release the hostages and get a ceasefire.”

Graham also discusses comments by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich that Trump’s election victory offers an opportunity to encourage what he terms the “voluntary emigration” of Palestinians from Gaza so that half of the Strip’s 2.2 million residents leave within two years.

“I think he should talk to Trump and hear what he wants. If you haven’t spoken to him, I wouldn’t put words in his mouth,” Graham tells Axios.

The US senator also met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman during his recent Mideast visit, and touched on the subject of normalization with Israel, which he says would have to include what Axios terms a “Palestinian component.”

“The best insurance policy against Hamas is not an Israeli reoccupation of Gaza but a reform in the Palestinian society. The only ones who can do that are the Arab countries,” Graham says.