Biden and Blinken took credit for the groundwork behind Trump’s Gaza ceasefire agreement

Both former President Joe Biden and former Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed some credit for the ceasefire agreement President Donald Trump reached between Israel and Hamas on Monday.

On the X program, Biden – who is undergoing treatment for cancer – said he was “very grateful and relieved” that the Gaza war was coming to an end.

“The road to this deal was not easy,” the Democrat wrote. “My government has worked relentlessly to repatriate hostages, provide relief to Palestinian civilians, and end the war.”

But Biden also gave Trump credit for reaching a “renewed ceasefire agreement at the finish line.”

He concluded his speech by saying: “Now, with the support of the United States and the world, the Middle East is on the path to peace, which I hope will continue and a future for Israelis and Palestinians alike with equal measures of peace, dignity, and security.”

Blinken said on Monday that Trump’s 20-point plan for peace in the Gaza Strip is based on a plan developed by the Biden administration.

In a lengthy post on X, Blinken, who served in the Biden administration, explained how Trump was able to secure the peace deal. He noted that Arab countries and Turkey said “enough” to Hamas, and said the response also showed that other Iran-backed groups – Hezbollah and the Houthi rebels in Yemen – did not come to Hamas’ aid.

“It starts with a clear and comprehensive plan for the post-conflict period in Gaza,” Blinken wrote. “It is good that President Trump adopted and built on the plan developed by the Biden administration after months of discussions with Arab partners, Israel and the Palestinian Authority.”

Blinken said the Biden administration briefly secured a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in January, leading to the release of 135 hostages before the agreement collapsed.

He also wondered how Trump could secure a lasting peace plan.

Peter Doocy, Fox News’ chief White House correspondent, asked Trump about Blinken’s comments aboard Air Force One.

“Everyone knows it’s a joke,” Trump said. “Look, they did a really bad job. This should never have happened.”

“If there had been a decent president – not a great president like me – if there had been a decent president, there would not have been (a war) between Russia and Ukraine,” Trump said. “This was bad policy by Biden and Obama.”

Trump was in Egypt on Monday to work on the second phase of the ceasefire while meeting with more than 20 world leaders.

“We’ve heard it for many years, but no one thought it could ever get there,” Trump said. “And now we are there.”

“This is the day that people across this region and around the world have been working, struggling, hoping and praying for,” he added. “Thanks to the historic agreement we just signed, the prayers of millions have finally been answered. Together, we have achieved the impossible.”

In his post, Blinken said the post-war plan in Gaza must be implemented immediately, “with eyes wide open about the challenges it faces: assembling the international stabilization force, fully disarming and disarming Hamas, dealing with the insurgents, and accelerating and securing a gradual but complete Israeli withdrawal.”

He also credited Trump with reaffirming “the basic principles we established for Gaza at the beginning of the war — no platform for terrorism, no annexation, no occupation, no forced transfer of population — and to make clear that the overall goal is to create the conditions for a credible path to a Palestinian state.”