‘I’m here to save lives’: Inside the unlikely Biden-Trump partnership to secure a Gaza ceasefire
Secure rooms in the US Capitol are cavernous compared to the White House Situation Room. They are designed for full committees or larger gatherings, not intimate discussions. On Nov. 20, 2024, Jake Sullivan and I had gone to one of those rooms to brief our successors two weeks after Donald Trump resoundingly defeated Kamala Harris. … The post ‘I’m here to save lives’: Inside the unlikely…
On November 20, 2024, Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security advisor, and the author met in a secure room at the US Capitol to brief their respective successors. Sullivan, the lead on the Middle East, was responsible for negotiating a hostage deal in exchange for a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel. His predecessor was Steve Witkoff, Trump’s best friend and a real-estate tycoon.
The meeting came after the US and Middle East leaders, led by Biden, Egypt, and Qatar, presented a new proposal for the hostage talks, which Hamas terrorists violated by murdering six hostages in Gaza. The hostage situation had collapsed, and Israel had achieved significant military victories since then.
Operation Grim Beeper, launched on September 17, 2024, targeted Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, resulting in their deaths and the displacement of nearly 80,000 people. Following the death of Hamas leader Hassan Nasrallah, Iran retaliated with a massive missile attack on Israel, prompting concerns about a potential counterattack.
In the Situation Room, Sullivan and the White House team received reports of a missile strike on a college dormitory in Tel Aviv. As the team processed the information, they realized the gravity of the situation, with White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Brett McGurk and Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre expressing their concern.
Written by urgent.news from Egypt Independent's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
