President Donald Trump on Thursday said he will travel to the Middle East in time to be there when Hamas releases the roughly 20 remaining living hostages and the bodies of deceased ones as part of an exchange with Israel laid out in the “phase one” peace deal brokered with the aid of U.S. and Arab representatives in Egypt.
Speaking during a cabinet meeting less than 24 hours after announcing the deal, Trump said “all of the remaining hostages” should be “released on Monday or Tuesday” in what he described as a “complicated process” that will mark “a day of joy.”
“I’m going to try and make a trip over. We’re going to try and get over there, and we’re working on the timing, the exact timing, we’re going to go to Egypt, where we’ll have a signing, an additional sign, and we’ve already had a signing representing me, but we’re going to have an official signing,” he said.
The president told reporters he hoped the deal, which was negotiated in part by his roving envoy, Steve Witkoff, and his former adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, would stand as a “momentous breakthrough” that will lead to an “everlasting peace” in the region after two years of war following the October 7 terror attacks by Hamas.
He added that he’d be leaving “fairly soon” and said people are “so happy” about the nascent peace deal.
“I’ve never experienced anything quite like it. I’ve never seen such universal praise for for being able to do something … it’s something that nobody thought it was possible, and we’re going to end up having peace in the Middle East,” he said.
Wild celebrations have erupted in both Gaza and Israel in the hours since the deal was announced, hailing what could be an eventual end to a devastating Israeli military campaign in Gaza and the release of hostages who have been in captivity for two years.
Israeli cabinet and government meetings taking place Thursday are the final step towards ratifying the deal. If approved, the ceasefire will come into effect 24 hours after the cabinet meeting, a government spokesperson said.
Hamas confirmed that the agreement includes troop withdrawal, prisoner exchanges, and the entry of aid. But the Israeli military warned civilians not to return to northern Gaza, calling it “a dangerous combat zone.”
The militant group is thought to have 48 hostages to release — 28 of whom are believed to be deceased — in exchange for a significant number of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Asked what would happen if Hamas is unable to locate all of the dead hostages’ remains, Trump told reporters that the location of “most of” the hostages is already known. He said the “bodies are a bigger problem” because some may be more difficult to locate but promised that all parties would “do the best we can” to find them.
He also added that Gaza is going to be “slowly redone” with the aid of “tremendous wealth” from Arab nations as the war-torn strip will soon see a reduced military presence from Israel.
“Just a small part of that… what they make, will do wonders for for Gaza, and I think you’ll see some tremendous countries stepping up and putting up a lot of money and taking care of things,” Trump said.
