Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said that President-elect Trump wants to reach a ceasefire and hostage deal before inauguration day on Jan. 20, Axios reported on Friday.
“Trump is more determined than ever to release the hostages and supports a ceasefire that includes a hostage deal. He wants to see it happening now,” Graham told Axios.
“I want people in Israel and in the region to know that Trump is focused on the hostages issue. He wants the killing to stop and the fighting to end,” the senator added.
Graham’s comments come after he returned from his second trip to the Middle East this month, and days after President Biden announced a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal between Isreal and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Trump’s transition team received briefings on the Lebanon ceasefire deal, which follows nearly 14 months of intensive rocket fire, airstrikes and an Israeli ground invasion into southern Lebanon.
Amos Hochstein, Biden’s lead negotiator on the ceasefire, led two briefings with Trump’s national security team on the tenants of the deal — which was announced on Tuesday — and U.S. commitments including providing oversight of implementation.
Trump has said Israel needs to finish the war quickly, though as with the Russia-Ukraine war has offered few specifics on his plans to end the conflict.
“What I said very plainly is get it over with, and let’s get back to peace and stop killing people,” Trump told radio host Hugh Hewitt in April. “They have to get it done. Get it over with, and get it over with fast, because we have to, you have to get back to normalcy and peace.”
The Biden administration has made various efforts to bring an end to fighting in Gaza, arguing that Hamas leader Yayha Sinwar’s death last month offered a path to ending the fighting.
Trump is widely seen as the favored U.S. counterpart for Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been accused of stifling international talks aimed at reaching a ceasefire deal in exchange for Hamas releasing some 100 hostages it took during the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel.
Graham also told Axios that Trump needs to reach a negotiation in Gaza before turning to other key foreign policy focuses, like a regional alliance against Iran.
