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Trump says Gaza hostages should be released on Monday or Tuesday
US president Donald Trump said on Thursday that the Gaza hostages should be released on Monday or Tuesday and that he hopes to attend a signing ceremony in Egypt.
Trump opened a a White House Cabinet meeting to discuss the deal reached on Wednesday under which the hostages held by Hamas militants are to be released as part of a first phase of a broader Gaza plan.
He said he believed it will lead to “lasting peace”.
Trump heralded what he called the “end of the war in Gaza” and claimed that Gaza will be “redone”, adding that the attack on Iran played an “important” role in bringing the conflict to an end.
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Trump also said he didn’t have a view on a two-state solution. “I’m going to go with whatever they agree to,” he said.
Asked what kind of security guarantees the US will make for Gaza, Trump provided no specifics. He said only that he will work with “very wealthy countries” to be involved in making Gaza “as good as possible”.
Asked if he could promise Palestinians that they will be able to stay in Gaza, Trump said: “We’re going to create something where people can live.”
“We’re going to create better conditions for people,” he added.
Asked what assurances he has that Hamas will disarm and that Israel will stop its bombing after the release of hostages, Donald Trump said, “we’ll see,” adding that his team was focusing first on the release of hostages.
Aafter the release of the hostages, “there will be disarming, there will be pullbacks, there will be a lot of things happening,” he said.
Trump says he has agreed to address Israel's Knesset
Trump added that he had agreed to speak at the Knesset on his upcoming trip to the Middle East.
“They asked me to speak at the Knesset and I’ve agreed to … If they’d like me to I will do it,” he told his cabinet meeting. “If they want me to I’ll do it.”
Donald Trump on Thursday said his administration would work with Iran and would like to see them be able to rebuild their country.
He added that Tehran acknowledged that they are in favor of the Israel, Hamas ceasefire and hostage deal.
Trump says Gaza hostages should be released on Monday or Tuesday
US president Donald Trump said on Thursday that the Gaza hostages should be released on Monday or Tuesday and that he hopes to attend a signing ceremony in Egypt.
Trump opened a a White House Cabinet meeting to discuss the deal reached on Wednesday under which the hostages held by Hamas militants are to be released as part of a first phase of a broader Gaza plan.
He said he believed it will lead to “lasting peace”.
Trump heralded what he called the “end of the war in Gaza” and claimed that Gaza will be “redone”, adding that the attack on Iran played an “important” role in bringing the conflict to an end.
Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi spoke by phone with US president Donald Trump on Thursday and invited him to attend a ceremony in Egypt marking the Gaza ceasefire deal, a statement from the Egyptian presidency said.
Egypt’s Sisi stressed need to move ahead with implementing all stages of Gaza ceasefire deal, and urged Trump to support and oversee its execution, the statement added.
French president Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that the coming hours will be decisive for cementing peace in Gaza and that the current conference on the matter held in Paris aimed to work in parallel with the US initiative.
France is hosting a meeting of foreign ministers from Western and Arab countries in Paris on Thursday to discuss an international peacekeeping force and reconstruction assistance for Gaza once the fighting stops.
Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas signed an agreement on Thursday to cease fire and free Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, the first phase of US president Donald Trump’s initiative to end the war in Gaza.
The European Union is ready to discuss how it can contribute to the Gaza peace plan, the bloc’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas said on Thursday ahead of a conference on Gaza in Paris.
Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas signed an agreement on Thursday to cease fire and free Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, in the first phase of US president Donald Trump’s initiative to end the war in Gaza.
“This is the best chance we have,” Kallas said.
Hundreds of people have gathered in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv. The yellow stickers, which have so long borne the number of days hostages have been in captivity, were replaced by ones that read: ‘They’re returning’.
Israelis from all over the country came to celebrate the news that Israel and Hamas struck a deal to release the 20 remaining living hostages held in Gaza within 72 hours, and for the remains of 28 to be repatriated as soon as possible.
In return, nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners would be released from Israeli jails, and Israeli troops would withdraw from 47% of the Gaza Strip.
William Christou
Hamas has called on Trump and guarantor states to ensure Israel fully implemented the ceasefire.
The Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem told Al Jazeera Arabic the group was seeking guarantees from international mediators that Israel will implement the provisions of the deal, after accusing Israel of “manipulating” parts of the agreement.
“There was talk with friends about a ceasefire at noon this day, but the occupation, for internal considerations, is postponing the announcement to other dates,” said Qassem to Al Jazeera.
Here is a map that shows the area of the initial IDF withdrawal in Gaza:
A map that shows the area of the initial IDF withdrawal in GazaA map that shows the area of the initial IDF withdrawal in Gaza
William Christou
Family members of hostages still held in Gaza are in attendance in celebrations in hostage square in Tel Aviv.
Speaking to the Guardian, Itzik Horn, a 73-year-old whose two sons Eitan and Iair were taken hostage by Hamas-led militants from their home in Nir Oz, said that he was cautiously optmistic. Iair had already been released in an earlier hostage release in February, but Eitan was still held in Gaza.
“I felt good when I heard the news, but I will feel much better when I see Eitan and the rest of the hostages. With god’s help, he will return on Monday from hell,” said Horn. “Thanks to president [Donald] Trump, they are returning home.”
Eitan is one of the 20 living hostages that will be released by Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups from Hamas in a hostage-prisoner deal meant to occur by Monday. Hamas will release the living hostages and the remains of 28 other hostages who were killed. In exchange, Israel will release nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and partially withdraw from the Gaza strip.
Horn said that he cannot wait to see his son. He joked that the first thing he will tell Eitan that he “took his diet too far” after videos showed the once heavyset 38-year-old now much thinner from his captivity.
Other family members of hostages said that the return of hostages will finally allow them to begin to process the trauma that they endured during the 7 October attack which saw 1,200 people killed and 251 taken hostage by Hamas-led militants.
“We and the hostages that came back and all of Israel, all of the citizens, cannot heal if they are there,” said Sharon Kalderon, a survivor of 7 October whose brother-in-law and his two children were held as hostages before being released in February.
Kalderon said that her and the other members of the hostage and missing families forum have poured their energy into activism over the last two years as they sought the return of their loved ones. Once their mission is over, they will have to look inwards and face the trauma they had not yet addressed.
“I am still there, still in the safe room on 7 October. I cannot leave the room as long as the [hostages] are still there,” said Kalderon.
Shrai Popat
In the US, House speaker Mike Johnson is speaking at a press conference at the US Capitol, and spent his opening remarks praising the Trump administration for brokering the first phase of the Israel-Hamas peace deal.
“He’s going to bring peace and security back to Israel and truly lay the foundation for a lasting peace in the Middle East,” Johnson said.
“This is a goal and an objective that’s been stated by presidents and politicians and policymakers and people around the globe for generations.
“President Trump has the strength and the vision and the resolve to do it.”
Iran called on the international community to prevent Israel from violating its obligations in Gaza, its foreign ministry said in a statement on Thursday, after Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas signed an agreement to cease fire.
The foreign ministry said Tehran supports any effort that ends the “genocide” and the war in Gaza.
Russia hopes US president Donald Trump’s plan to end the Gaza war will be successfully implemented and is willing to support efforts to end the bloodshed, president Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.
“We very much hope that these initiatives of the US president will actually be realised in practice,” Putin said at a summit in Tajikistan.
The day so far
It is approaching 5pm in Gaza and Israel. Here is a summary of what we know about the Gaza ceasefire deal so far and updates from today’s blog:
Israel and Hamas have agreed to the initial phase of a ceasefire plan in Gaza, pausing hostilities in the devastated territory and bringing the best hope yet of a definitive end to a bloody two-year conflict that has killed tens of thousands, destabilised much of the Middle East and prompted protests around the world.
Donald Trump announced the agreement on his Truth Social network saying all of the hostages held in Gaza would be released soon and Israel would withdraw troops to an agreed line as the first step to a “Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace”.
Hamas said on Thursday it had agreed the US president’s proposal and confirmed the deal included an Israeli withdrawal from the territory and a hostage-prisoner exchange. The Israeli military said on Thursday it was preparing to pull back troops in Gaza, while the office of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the agreement to secure the release of hostages will only take effect after receiving cabinet approval.
The Israeli security cabinet will meet at 5pm local time (2pm GMT/3pm BST), government spokesperson Shosh Badrosian told journalists on Thursday. The security cabinet meeting will be followed by a full government meeting at 6pm local time (3pm GMT/4pm BST).
Foreign ministers from Germany, Spain, Italy, the UK, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Jordan along with the EU’s chief diplomat Kaja Kallas have been invited to a summit in Paris today convened by French foreign minister Jean Noël Barrot to discuss the Gaza ceasefire plan. Press statements are expected at 4.30pm CET (2.30pm GMT/3.30pm BST).
Israel does not intend to release prominent Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti as part of the agreement reached with Hamas to free Israeli hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, an Israeli government spokesperson said on Thursday. Earlier, Israel and Hamas agreed in indirect talks that the 48 hostages held by militants in Gaza would be released in exchange for about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Rounds of celebratory gunfire rang into the night sky and people cried tears of joy and disbelief on Thursday as news of a peace deal reached those in devastated Gaza – and in Israel, where relatives have anxiously awaited the release of hostages detained since the war broke out two years ago. Scenes from Hostage Square in Tel Aviv showed Israelis waving Israeli and American flags, while in Gaza, Palestinians waved the Palestinian flag and celebrated in the streets.
World leaders, humanitarian organisations and charities welcomed the news of the Gaza ceasefire deal, but have also expressed caution. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), one of the largest independent aid groups working in Gaza, said Trump’s plan to increase aid to starving people as part of a ceasefire will fail unless all aid groups can resume operations. French president Emmanuel Macron said he hoped the Gaza ceasefire agreement would lead to “political solution based on the two-state solution”. Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas welcomed the deal and “expressed hope that these efforts would be a prelude to reaching a permanent political solution”.
Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Thursday that militant group Hamas must be destroyed after the return of hostages from Gaza. The far-right politician said he would not vote in favour of a ceasefire deal with Hamas to end the war in Gaza, but stopped short of threatening to bring down Netanyahu’s coalition government.
The World Health Organization (WHO) director general hailed on Thursday the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas as “a big step towards lasting peace”, saying his agency was prepared to “scale up” health assistance in Gaza. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X: “WHO stands ready to scale up its work to meet the dire health needs of patients across Gaza, and to support rehabilitation of the destroyed health system.” UN secretary general António Guterres said the United Nations and its partners “are prepared to move – now”.
Turkey will take part in a joint taskforce – alongside Israel, the United States, Qatar and Egypt – that will be established to locate the bodies of deceased hostages in Gaza whose locations are unknown, a senior Turkish official said on Thursday.
Here are some of the latest photographs coming in via the newswires:
