WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is ending 2024 the same way he ended last year: without an agreement that would halt the fighting in the Gaza Strip, release the scores of hostages held by Hamas and potentially pave the way for a historic deal to normalize relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. 

Biden's fourth and final year in office was dogged by unsuccessful diplomacy in the Middle East, which became a flashpoint in the presidential campaign and deepened US isolation on the world stage. His administration scored a rare win in late November when it brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, but a deal to wind down the war in Gaza has remained far more elusive. 

The cautious optimism that followed Biden’s May 31 announcement of a three-phase truce and hostage-release deal was fleeting. Both Israel and Hamas put forward additional demands this summer that deadlocked the negotiations. 

As the talks stalled, Biden faced pressure from some of his closest Democratic allies who said the United States could be further leveraging Israel's military assistance to stem the bloodshed in Gaza, where local health authorities say more than 45,000 people have died since October 2023, most of them women and children. The Biden administration was accused of giving Israel a pass as recently as November when it chose not to restrict military assistance as threatened when Israel failed to boost aid flows to Gaza in accordance with a US deadline.