From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, January 15, 2025
Involvement of Trump team in hostage talks was ‘critical,’ US State Department says
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller says the involvement of US President-elect Donald Trump’s team “has been absolutely critical in getting this [hostage] deal over the line.”
Given that the implementation of the deal will take place during the Trump administration, cooperation between the incoming and outgoing teams was essential for securing today’s agreement, Miller says during a press briefing.
Egypt and Qatar will be responsible for ensuring that Hamas remains at the negotiating table to hammer out the terms of the second phase and the Trump administration will be responsible for ensuring that Israel remains at the table, he adds.
Miller argues that the cooperation between outgoing US President Joe Biden’s envoy Brett McGurk and Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, who sat together at the negotiation table may well have been unprecedented and demonstrates the power of bipartisanship.
