US Ambassador to Ankara Tom Barrack (@USAMBTurkiye) on October 15 presented his thanks and congratulations to Turkey for its role in helping Hamas to surrender in Gaza.

Referring to a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article headlined “A Coordinated Squeeze Forced Hamas to Accept a Deal It Didn’t Want”, the ambassador wrote in a tweet: “Thank you and congratulations Türkiye.”

Pressure turned up on Hamas

According to the daily, the Islamist group initially rejected US President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan, presented by Qatar’s PM and Egypt’s spymaster as it demanded concrete steps to disarmament.

Two days later, Hamas came back to the Arab mediators with a "yes", but, according to the WSJ, this was a case of it agreeing to a deal that had not changed because the pressure on Hamas had changed considerably.

An offer Hamas couldn't refuse

Qatar and Egypt initially “pressed” Hamas to surrender, then “the next day, joined by Turkey, they warned that Hamas would be stripped of all political and diplomatic cover while Qatar and Turkey would no longer host the group’s political leadership.”

The campaign that forced Hamas to accept a deal it didn’t want resulted from weeks of effort put in by the Trump team to bring Egypt, Qatar and Turkey together in a coordinated push to get Hamas to agree to sign up, according to the daily.

Erdogan sits at head of table

Trump nowadays has a warmer relationship with Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the daily noted, adding that he afforded a first White House meeting in more than half a decade to the Turkish leader of 22 years in late September.

Just prior to that White House occasion, Erdogan sat at the head of the table at a meeting of leaders of Muslim-majority countries on the sidelines of the annual convening of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The gathering discussed ways to resolve the war in Gaza.

Thanks to recent favours from Trump, Erdogan has dispatched his spymaster Ibrahim Kalin to join the Egypt talks with Hamas, the newspaper added.