In a meeting earlier this week between White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL), whom President-elect Trump has chosen as his National Security Adviser, the pair discussed the war and the hostages in Gaza, two sources familiar with the meeting said.
This was the first meeting between Sullivan and his intended successor, who will inherit a long series of crises around the world, chief among them the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.
Behind the scenes
The sources said the meeting occurred after Sullivan returned from President Biden's trip to South America.
During the meeting, Sullivan and Waltz discussed several national security and foreign policy issues, including the war in Gaza and the issue of the hostages held by Hamas, the sources added.
Sullivan and Waltz declined to comment on the details of the meeting.
In the news spotlight
Ten days ago, President Biden hosted Trump for a two-hour meeting in the Oval Office. During the meeting, Trump raised the issue of the hostages and proposed working together to push for an agreement.
"I don't care if Trump gets all the credit, as long as they come home," Biden told the families of American hostages during a meeting that occurred hours after his conversation with the President-elect, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Behind the scenes
When President Isaac Herzog called Trump to congratulate him on his election victory, he told the American President-elect that the release of 101 hostages held in Gaza is "an urgent matter," according to three individuals briefed on the conversation.
"You need to save the hostages," Herzog told Trump, who responded by saying that, to the best of his knowledge, most of the hostages were likely dead. President Herzog informed Trump that Israeli intelligence services believe that about half of the hostages, approximately 50, are still alive.
"Trump was surprised and said he wasn’t aware of this," one source familiar with the conversation stated. Two additional sources briefed on the call confirmed that Trump had expressed his belief that most of the hostages were dead.