Israelis pass by an installation in Tel Aviv on Jan. 16, 2025, featuring a clock counting the time that hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip have spent in captivity since the attack on Oct. 7, 2023. (Credit: Jack Guez/AFP)
Why did Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu give his approval on Wednesday to a cease-fire agreement in Gaza, the terms of which largely reflect the deal put forward by the Biden administration last May? After more than a year of war and months of unsuccessful negotiations led by American, Egyptian and Qatari mediators, Doha and Washington announced that a truce would come into effect on Sunday, Jan. 19. This breakthrough is attributed by observers to the pressure exerted by the newly-elected American president, Donald Trump, who will take office the day after the agreement is implemented. "Although the Biden administration led most of the negotiations, never has an uninvested president and his future official envoy played such a visible role in a negotiation," noted Aaron David Miller, a researcher at Carnegie and a...
Why did Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu give his approval on Wednesday to a cease-fire agreement in Gaza, the terms of which largely reflect the deal put forward by the Biden administration last May? After more than a year of war and months of unsuccessful negotiations led by American, Egyptian and Qatari mediators, Doha and Washington announced that a truce would come into effect on Sunday, Jan. 19. This breakthrough is attributed by observers to the pressure exerted by the newly-elected American president, Donald Trump, who will take office the day after the agreement is implemented. "Although the Biden administration led most of the negotiations, never has an uninvested president and his future official envoy played such a visible role in a negotiation," noted Aaron David Miller, a researcher at Carnegie and a...