(Adnkronos) – The Trump Administration has begun working immediately on the second phase of the agreement for the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of the more than 60 hostages that Hamas has yet to decide to release. Politico writes, stressing that the new Trump foreign policy team is committed to achieving a permanent end to the conflict. But, officials explain on condition of anonymity, the challenge is difficult. ”What Biden has left us with is the end of the beginning, not the beginning of the end,” commented one official. What Trump’s team is working on is: how to turn an initial six-week ceasefire into a definitive one and verify that the conditions exist to achieve this result.
Another ”diplomatic headache,” as Politico defines it, that the Trump team faces is how to secure the release of more than 60 Israeli and foreign hostages that Hamas has not yet announced it will release. And how, if at all possible, Trump can help Israel achieve its goal of completely destroying Hamas. “It’s not our war, it’s their war. I’m not confident,” Trump said on the day he was sworn in.
Meanwhile, officials in the new administration say the Trump team will prioritize efforts to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will be committed to achieving the goals in the area, officials and advisers told Politico on condition of anonymity. Also in the field is Trump’s new Middle East team, which includes Steve Witkoff, his envoy to the region, Deputy Envoy Morgan Ortagus, and Eric Trager, Trump’s new senior director for the Middle East at the National Security Council. Witkoff has already worked with Biden’s envoys in Doha, Qatar, to finalize the first phase of the Gaza and hostage deal.
Waltz, on the other hand, has said that “Hamas must be destroyed to the point that it cannot rebuild” its military strength and that it must have no role in governing Gaza. How that will happen remains to be seen, given that even after 15 months of war Hamas still rules Gaza, Politico writes.
Waltz and his counterpart in the Biden administration, Jake Sullivan, worked closely together for the success of the deal in the final weeks of the previous administration. But Waltz did not spare him criticism, letting it be known that the new Trump team would reverse all the blocks Biden had imposed on arms transfers to Israel.
“I think we are at a very positive point because the Israeli government sometimes did not listen to the not-so-good advice coming from this administration,” Waltz said. “You will not see this administration hold back by preventing Israel from arming itself,” he said.
