Administration official shares inside story of how Hamas-Israel deal came about

A senior administration official on Wednesday provided more details about how the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and hostage release agreement finally came together, laying the timeline of negotiations and the coordination between President Joe Biden's team and President-elect Donald Trump's.

Here are some highlights:

Biden-Netanyahu call

The senior administration official said that Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke Wednesday afternoon.

“It was a very warm call, marking this moment, but also reflecting on the horror that Israel has seen since October 7, and also the horror that the hostages have faced living in these dark and horrific conditions," the official said. "We're now very hopeful that we begin to see hostages come home as early as Sunday. Prime Minister Netanyahu also remarked that he’s known President Biden for 44 years, which is hard to believe, but just the amount of history that these two have seen together is quite extraordinary.”

American hostages

Officials said two of the living American hostages will be part of this first phase of the agreement.

Keith Seigel and Sagui Dekel-Chen are both expected to be released, with Seigel qualifying for release due to age and Dekel-Chen qualifying because of injury. The official noted he was shot on October 7..Edan Alexander will be in the second phase of releases because of his Israel Defense Forces service. The official noted that he spoke with Alexander’s father Tuesday night and that the U.S. remains fully committed to getting him out.

“We are committed to getting all Americans, these are American-Israeli citizens, all of them out of Gaza, whether living or remains. That is our commitment,” the official said.

Coordination with the Trump team

Officials on the call acknowledged the partnership between the Biden and Trump administrations, saying the coordination between U.S.envoy Brett McGurk and Steve Witkoff, Trump's Middle East envoy, over the last 96 hours was “almost unprecedented” and quite remarkable.

“Four days ago, Steve Witkoff came out to join Brett in the final push, which I think is a, I think, historically, almost unprecedented. And it was a highly constructive, very fruitful partnership. And I think at some point the two of them will probably speak more about it, because it was really quite, I think, quite remarkable," the official said. "And I think speaks to what can be done in the country when it focuses on the common objective."

“That was especially critical here, because we all recognize that, given that this deal would be 42-day Phase 1 ceasefire and the hope will last much longer than that, this deal will be implemented by the new administration,” they added.

The senior administration official said that the coordination between the two administrations came from Biden, who “set the tone” for a seamless transition following his Oval Office meeting with Trump after the November election.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan and McGurk met with their incoming counterparts after the meeting, with McGurk and Witkoff talking regularly about the process.

But the official dodged questions about the "Trump factor" in the deal and if his coming into office was a “motivating factor” for getting the deal done. At one point, the official said the anticipation of the incoming administration was a "natural" deadline.

“Any negotiation, any breakthrough diplomacy, sometimes we need a deadline, sometimes that's an artificial deadline you try to create,” the official argued.

“But also, there are deadlines that just are natural, and the transition from one president to another was one. But what the catalyst for this intensive diplomacy was the defeat of Hezbollah, the ceasefire in Lebanon and the massive isolation of Hamas that got them back to the table and, for the first time, to accept a hostage list that, yes, this is who is going to be released in the deal that led to this ultimate breakthrough,” the official said.

Asked about Trump’s ultimatum that "there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East" if the hostages were not released before his inauguration, the official replied, “Hell has been paid to Hamas tremendously.”