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A few minutes into his inaugural address, Trump styled himself a “peacemaker and unifier”, basically taking credit for the nebulous peace in the fractured region, which was reportedly brokered by Egypt and Qatar.
Referring to Sunday’s hostage-prisoner exchange, when Israel returned 90 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for three hostages held by Hamas, Trump said, “My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier.”
Trump went on to add he was “pleased to say that as of yesterday, one day before I assumed office, the hostages in the Middle East are coming back home to their families.”
On January 15, Israel and Hamas agreed to a deal to halt fighting in Gaza and exchange Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, ending the war — for now, at least — that has upended the Middle East.
The agreement followed months of on-off negotiations brokered by Egyptian and Qatari mediators, with the backing of the United States.
Israeli troops invaded Gaza after Hamas-led gunmen broke through security barriers and burst into Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 soldiers and civilians and abducting more than 250 foreign and Israeli hostages.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 46,000 people, according to Gaza health ministry figures, and left the narrow coastal enclave a wasteland of rubble, with hundreds of thousands surviving the winter cold in tents and makeshift shelters.
As his inauguration approached, Trump repeated his demand that a deal be done swiftly, warning repeatedly that there would be ”hell to pay” if the hostages were not released. His Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff worked with President Joe Biden’s team to push the deal over the line.
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