But with Trump demanding that Hamas release all its hostages by Saturday, the president will not have long to wait to see if at least one of his diplomatic gambles pays off.
Trump revoked former President Joe Biden’s ceasefire and hostage deal on Monday when he told Hamas and its allies in Gaza to release the remaining 76 hostages they took during their Oct. 7 terrorist attacks by noon on Saturday or that “all hell is going to break loose.”
Trump’s rescinding the deal comes after Hamas announced on Monday that the hostage release scheduled for this Saturday will be delayed “until further notice.” Tensions have escalated in the region since last week’s release of three Israeli men who appeared emaciated after more than a year in captivity.
A day later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted Trump’s new terms, warning Hamas on Tuesday that if it does not release the hostages, “[Israel Defense Forces] will return to intense fighting until [the terrorist organization] is finally defeated.”
Moments later, Trump met with King Abdullah II bin al Hussein of Jordan in the Oval Office to discuss his proposal to “take” Gaza and permanently relocate 2 million Palestinians in countries such as Egypt and Jordan.
“There is nothing to buy,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday. “It’s Gaza. It’s a war-torn area. We’re going to take it, we’re going to hold it, we’re going to cherish it, we’re going to get it going eventually where a lot of jobs are going to be created for the people in the Middle East. It’s going to be for the people in the Middle East. But I think it could be a diamond.”
When pressed on what authority Trump would “take” Gaza, the president replied, “U.S. authority.”
For Center for Strategic and International Studies Middle East program senior fellow Natasha Hall, Trump has “thrown the ceasefire into a tail spin, but also international law and regional stability” after the Biden administration spent 15 months on the first deal, with negotiations regarding the agreement’s second and third phases ongoing.
“While I think we all want the hostages released, I think it is ultimately President Trump that has put it in jeopardy,” Hall told the Washington Examiner. “I think probably most Israelis understand that and fear that [and], at this point now, would not like [the] resumption of hostilities but would rather have an end to the ambitious talk of the president and the return of the hostages.”
Regional instability increases the risk of the United States being “dragged into a region that it did not want to get dragged into for geostrategic reasons and because of priorities elsewhere,” according to Hall.
“It also ultimately would likely incentivize further migration, which as far as I know, was President Trump, his base, and his allies’ vision to stop,” she said.
Reporters were permitted into the room before the start of the Trump-Abdullah meeting and asked the king for his response to Trump’s new policy for Gaza.
Abdullah declined to comment until Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s emergency summit for Arab leaders concerning Gaza on Feb. 27, though he did underscore that his preference was for an approach “that is best for everybody.” El-Sisi is expected at the White House next Tuesday.
Instead, Abdullah announced that Jordan will welcome 2,000 sick Palestinian children into the kingdom for treatment as he tries to discourage Trump from canceling U.S. foreign aid. Under Biden, the State Department signed a new deal in 2022 to give Jordan $1.45 billion per year through 2029.
“We contribute a lot of money to Jordan and to Egypt,” Trump said. “But I don’t have to threaten that, I don’t think. I think we’re above that.”
But in a later statement written in Arabic, Abdullah wrote that he “reaffirmed Jordan’s firm stance against the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank” and for a two-state solution to Trump.
“This is the unified Arab position,” he said. “Everyone’s priority should be the reconstruction of Gaza without displacing its people and addressing the difficult humanitarian situation in the Strip.”
Trump himself downplayed the likelihood of Hamas releasing all of its hostages by Saturday despite expressing hope for “peace in the Middle East” and confidence that “something could be worked out with Egypt.”
“I think they want time because I think the people that they have living are in such bad shape,” he said.
Abdullah was greeted at the White House on Tuesday by an honor guard before he and Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah had a bilateral meeting and lunch with Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and national security adviser Mike Waltz. The royals were in the West Wing for only two hours before leaving as snow started falling on Washington, D.C.
The Jordanian king’s meeting is one of many sit-downs Trump has had with foreign leaders since becoming president again a month ago as he undoes Biden’s foreign policy at home and abroad, including through foreign aid and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Unlike Trump’s last two foreign working visits, his meeting with Abdullah did not feature a full press conference.
Trump and Netanyahu last week announced from the White House East Room the president’s plan to “own” Gaza and develop it into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”
Two days later, this time standing beside Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru in the same room, Trump said he would personally mediate a Japanese investment in U.S. Steel, the Pennsylvania-based steel producer Nippon Steel unsuccessfully sought to purchase under Biden.
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For Peter Loge, director of the Project on Ethics in Political Communication and a professor at George Washington University, Trump’s foreign policy strategy, at least related to foreign leaders, is gaining him negotiating leverage.
“All presidents use the White House and the pomp of state events to persuade foreign leaders, and foreign leaders always try to meet with the U.S. president to show their support,” Loge told the Washington Examiner. “Trump appears to be more eager to receive shallow flattery than his predecessors, and he has a history of being nice to people who say nice things about him. … In many ways, this is a continuation of the first administration in which there was much more flash than bang.”
