‘We’ve been speaking as one team’: Gaza ceasefire-hostage deal is a rare bipartisan victory in U.S. politics

President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump on Nov. 13, 2024. Photo by Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images

By Jacob Kornbluh January 15, 2025

Republicans and Democrats are uniting in support of the newly announced ceasefire-hostage deal between Israel and Hamas, with both sides claiming their approach helped advance the agreement and move the region toward peace.

The terms of the deal, which will stop the fighting in Gaza for 42 days and ensure the release of 33 hostages, closely resembles the proposal outlined by President Joe Biden and approved by the Israeli government last May. However, the agreement follows months of stalemate and was revisited after Donald Trump’s election and his ultimatum to Hamas, saying all hostages must be released before he returns to the White House on Jan. 20 or “all hell will break out.”

In a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Biden said the deal was negotiated under his administration but would be implemented under Trump’s.

A deal secured by Biden and Trump

Biden said he directed his team to coordinate closely with the president-elect’s team. “In the past few days, we’ve been speaking as one team,” Biden said, flanked by Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. “We’re handing off to the next team a real opportunity for a brighter future in the Middle East,” Biden said. “I hope they take it.”

The more than yearlong conflict in Gaza played a pivotal role in the election. During the presidential campaign, Biden then Harris faced resistance within the Democratic Party from the Uncommitted movement and suffered losses in the swing state of Michigan. Trump, in his outreach to Arab American voters, pledged to end the wars in Gaza and Lebanon and to deliver peace in the Middle East.

This agreement – pending approval from the Israeli cabinet expected Thursday morning – diverges from Biden’s original three-phase plan, which included provisions for post-war rebuilding and a long-term strategy for the region, one that both Israel and Hamas leaders balked at. The terrorist group used previous hostage negotiations to seek a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, while hardliners in Netanyahu’s coalition threatened to topple the government if he agreed to end the war. The current deal comprises just two phases and doesn’t include written U.S. guarantees that would prevent Israel from resuming military operations after 42 days.

Nonetheless, Biden’s team views the deal as a significant achievement for his foreign policy legacy. In a speech on Tuesday, Antony Blinken, the outgoing secretary of state, said that U.S. military aid and diplomatic support for Israel had prevented an even larger regional war and helped crush Iran and its proxies in the region.

Republicans argue that Trump’s approach made the deal happen. “There will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East” if the hostages aren’t released, Trump wrote on Dec. 2 on his social media platform, Truth Social. Steven Witkoff, Trump’s close friend and his new Middle East envoy, also played an active role in pressuring Israel to accept the terms.

Trump’s incoming national security team highlighted this as an example of Trump’s tough and effective diplomacy.

“He made it very clear, very early on, there will be nothing but downside,” Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser, said in a podcast interview on Tuesday. “And after Jan. 20, any deal that they thought was on the table is only going to get worse.”

“I’m convinced that’s why you’re seeing this movement,” he added.

The timing of the deal has drawn comparisons to the 1981 release of American hostages from Iran just minutes after Ronald Reagan was sworn in as president.

“We have achieved so much without even being in the White House,” Trump boasted in a statement on Wednesday, calling it an “EPIC” agreement.

Asked by a reporter if Trump deserves full credit for securing the deal, Biden responded, “Is that a joke?”

What comes next?

While both parties argue over credit, whether it becomes a legacy moment for Biden or a boost for Trump’s second presidency, the goal of the ceasefire-hostage deal is clear. It’s a step forward to advance peace between Israel and other Arab countries in the Middle East.

If the ceasefire holds, the focus will shift to a lasting resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“With this deal in place, my national security team, through the efforts of Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, will continue to work closely with Israel and our allies to make sure Gaza never again becomes a terrorist safe haven,” Trump said in a statement.

Sen. Marco Rubio, the secretary of state designate, said during a Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday, “Hamas has been severely degraded.” Referring to the hostages still being held, Rubio said, “But these people, that include a number of American citizens, need to be home as soon as possible, and that will remain a priority in any engagement that we’re involved in.”

Soon after the ceasefire deal was announced, family members of hostages still being held said in a statement, “We thank President Biden, President-elect Trump, and their teams for their constructive efforts to make this possible… We feel hopeful that under President Trump’s leadership, every last hostage will come home.”

The Biden administration has been pushing to get a hostage and ceasefire deal sealed since November 2023, when fighting paused for a week and 112 of the 251 hostages kidnapped on Oct. 7 were released. At least 50 of the 98 hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza are believed to be alive, including three Americans – Keith Siegel, Edan Alexander and Sagui Dekel-Chen. Several hostages, including Hersh Goldberg-Polin, were murdered in captivity and their bodies have been retrieved by Israeli forces. The American hostage families plan to be at Trump’s inauguration.

CNN reported Wednesday that Siegel and Dekel-Chen are on the list of hostages set to be released in the first phase.

Aviva Siegel told me in an interview last July that in an impromptu encounter she had with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while he was filming an interview for the Dr. Phil show, Netanyahu looked her in the eyes and said, ‘Keith will come home.’

“I’m waiting,” she said. “Since he said that, I’m waiting for him to bring Keith home.”