A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, Matthew Miller, has denied claims that Israel was pressured into agreeing to a ceasefire and hostage release deal. His comments stand in contrast to accounts from senior Arab diplomats and two other sources familiar with the negotiations, who told The Times of Israel that a “tense” meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, played a pivotal role in the breakthrough. According to these sources, it was in this meeting that Witkoff applied pressure on Netanyahu to make the necessary concessions for a deal to be reached.

The two high-ranking Arab diplomats emphasized that the pressure applied by Trump’s envoy during that particular meeting was unlike the approach taken by Biden administration officials, who had numerous discussions with Netanyahu throughout the course of the conflict but did not exert similar pressure.

In response to questions about these reports during a press briefing, Miller firmly stated, “It is not because of pressure that we have seen brought to bear by any party on the government of Israel the last few days that has gotten us to a deal.”

Miller attributed the success of the agreement to Hamas’s increasingly precarious position, explaining that its fighters were in need of a “break” from the ongoing fighting. While he acknowledged the Trump team’s involvement in supporting the effort, he rejected the idea that any pressure from President-elect Trump or his team played a role in achieving the deal.

{Matzav.com}