US President Donald Trump departed yesterday on a high-stakes peace trip to Israel and Egypt, declaring the “war is over” in Gaza despite uncertainty about what will follow a ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas.
Trump’s lightning visit is designed to celebrate his role in brokering last week’s ceasefire and hostage release deal.
The 79-year-old president is due to arrive in Israel shortly after the expected release of the hostages by Hamas. He will address parliament before heading to Egypt to host a major peace summit.
“The war is over. Okay? You understand that?” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One when asked if he was confident that the conflict between Israel and Hamas was finished.
Speaking before he boarded at Joint Base Andrews near Washington, Trump added that the visit was going to be a “very special time”.
“Everybody’s very excited about this moment in time. This is a very special event,” said Trump, holding an umbrella as light rain fell.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA chief John Ratcliffe and top US military officer Dan Caine were travelling with him on the presidential jet.
Trump said the phase one agreement that he announced last week had people ‘cheering’ in both Israel and in Muslim and Arab countries.
“Everybody’s cheering at one time, that’s never happened before. Usually if you have one cheering the other isn’t, the other is the opposite,” Trump said.
“This is the first time everybody is amazed and they’re thrilled and it’s an honour to be involved,” he said, adding that “we’re going to have an amazing time.”
A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas held in Gaza for a third day yesterday, ahead of the expected release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners.
Thousands of Palestinians continued to travel north towards Gaza City, the focus of Israeli attacks over the past two months, hopeful the ceasefire would bring an end to the war.
“Tomorrow is the beginning of a new path. A path of building, a path of healing, and I hope – a path of uniting hearts,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised statement.
Such optimism was shared broadly.
“There is a lot of joy among the people,” said Abdou Abu Seada, a resident of Gaza who added that the joy was tempered by exhaustion after two years of war that has destroyed much of Gaza.
Government spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian said Israel expected hostages to start being released early morning today with the 20 living hostages to be released together.
In the event that hostages were released earlier, Israel was ready to receive them, she said. Their release is to be followed later by the handover of bodies of the remaining 28 deceased hostages.
Under the ceasefire agreement, Hamas is due by noon today (0900 GMT) to release the remaining hostages, taken captive on October 7, 2023, when the group’s fighters launched the surprise attack on Israel that ignited the war.
Israel’s hostages co-ordinator Gal Hirsch said on Thursday a task force would be formed to help find the remains of any dead hostages that Hamas could not locate.
Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner addressed a rally in Tel Aviv on Saturday, which many Israelis hoped would be the final one urging the release of hostages and an end to the war.
The US, along with Egypt, Qatar and Türkiye, mediated what has been described as a first phase agreement between Israel and Hamas for a ceasefire and the release of hostages by Hamas and prisoners and detainees by Israel.
“For two years we (have been) waiting for this day for this moment... All of us feel happy for the family, for the hostages, that finally...we will see them,” said demonstrator Dalia Yosef, thanking Trump.
The Israel Prison Service said it had transferred some Palestinian prisoners to other facilities ahead of their expected release.
The Israeli Ministry of Justice has released the names of 250 Palestinians, convicted of murder and other serious crimes, who are to be freed under the deal.
The list does not include senior Hamas commanders that the group had sought to free, or prominent figures from other factions such as Marwan Al Barghouti or Ahmed Saadat.
Although that was not expected to derail the agreement, Hamas’ prisoners information office said that talks with Israeli mediators over the list of prisoners to be freed were ongoing.
Israel is also to release 1,700 Palestinians who have been detained in Gaza since October 7, 2023, and 22 Palestinian minors, along with the bodies of 360 fighters.
Israeli government spokesperson Bedrosian said the prisoners would be released once the living hostages reach Israeli territory.
&uuid=(email))