US President Donald Trump hailed the end of a “painful nightmare” in a speech to Israel‘s parliament Monday as the last surviving hostages returned home from Gaza and a group of Palestinian prisoners were freed under a US-brokered ceasefire deal.
“From October 7 [2023] until this week, Israel has been a nation at war, enduring burdens that only a proud and faithful people could withstand,” Trump told Israeli lawmakers, who gave a lengthy standing ovation upon his arrival.
“For so many families across this land, it has been years since you’ve known a single day of true peace,” he continued.
“Not only for Israelis, but also for Palestinians and for many others, the long and painful nightmare is finally over.”
His statements to the Israeli parliament were clearly meant to suggest that the ceasefire his administration helped broker could spark a deeper, lasting peace around a volatile region.
During an unexpected detour in his speech, Trump called on Israeli President Isaac Herzog to pardon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he described as “one of the greatest” wartime leaders. Netanyahu faces corruption and fraud charges, and several hearings have been postponed during the conflict with Hamas.
Read more‘The Bibi Files’: Documentary reveals the police interrogations behind Netanyahu’s graft trial
The Republican president also used the opportunity to settle political scores and thank his supporters, criticising Democratic predecessors and praising a top donor, Miriam Adelson, in the audience.
The US president’s lightning visit came ahead of a summit on Gaza in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh, with Trump departing Israel just hours after he had arrived.
Israel said the last 20 surviving hostages had returned home on Monday after two years in captivity in Gaza, part of a ceasefire deal with Hamas that the Trump administration helped broker.
In Tel Aviv, a huge crowd that had gathered to support hostage families erupted in joy, tears and song as news broke of the first releases, though the pain at the loss of those who had not survived was palpable.
In the Palestinian city of Ramallah, huge crowds gathered to welcome home the first buses carrying prisoners, with some chanting “Allahu akbar“, or God is the greatest, in celebration.
Under the ceasefire deal, Israel is due to release nearly 2,000 prisoners held in its jails.
Among those Israel was due to release are 250 security detainees, including many convicted of killing Israelis, while about 1,700 were taken into custody by the Israeli army in Gaza during the war.
Read moreTrump hails ‘historic dawn’ of ‘new Middle East’ after prisoner-hostage swap under Gaza deal
On October 7, 2023, militants seized 251 hostages during Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel, which led to the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians.
All but 47 of those hostages were freed in earlier truces, with the families of those who have remained in captivity leading lives of constant pain and worry for their loved ones.
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‘Emotion and sadness’
“Welcome home,” Israel’s foreign ministry said in a series of posts on X, hailing the return of the hostages.
On Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, Noga shared her pain and joy.
“I’m torn between emotion and sadness for those who won’t be coming back,” she said.
Under the ceasefire agreement, Hamas is also due to return the bodies of 27 hostages who died or were killed in captivity as well as the remains of a soldier killed in 2014 during a previous Gaza conflict.
Israel has said it does not expect all of the dead hostages to be returned on Monday.
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‘A new birth’
In Gaza, too, the ceasefire has brought relief, but with much of the territory flattened by war, the road to recovery remains long.
In the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, meanwhile, Palestinian prisoners released by Israel were met by a cheering crowd so dense that they struggled to get off the bus that delivered them from jail.
“It’s an indescribable feeling, a new birth,” Mahdi Ramadan, who was newly released, told AFP while flanked by his parents, with whom he said he would spend his first evening out of prison.
Trump’s visit to the Middle East aims to celebrate his role in brokering last week’s ceasefire and hostage-release deal – but comes at a precarious time as Israel and Hamas negotiate what comes next.
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One at the start of the “very special” visit, Trump brushed off concerns about whether the ceasefire would endure.
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“I think it’s going to hold,” he said of the ceasefire.
Trump announced in late September a 20-point plan for Gaza, which helped bring about the ceasefire.
In Egypt, Trump and President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will co-host a summit of world leaders to back his plan to end the Gaza war and promote Middle East peace.
While Palestinian Authority president Mahmuud Abbas is due at the summit, Netanyahu’s office said the Israeli premier will not attend due to the start of a religious holiday.
Read moreThe key points: What is in Trump’s plan to end the Gaza war?
‘Guarantees’
Trump will be looking to resolve some of the uncertainty around the next phases of the peace plan – including Hamas’s refusal to disarm and Israel’s failure to commit to a full withdrawal from the devastated territory.
Trump insisted he had “guarantees” from both sides and other key regional players about the initial phase of the deal, and the future stages.
A new governing body for devastated Gaza – which Trump himself would head under his own plan – would be established “very quickly”, he added.
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Under the plan, as Israel conducts a partial withdrawal from Gaza, it will be replaced by a multinational force coordinated by a US-led command centre in Israel.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem on Monday urged Trump and the mediators of the Gaza deal to “continue monitoring Israel’s conduct and to ensure it does not resume its aggression against our people”.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed at least 67,869 people, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers credible.
The data does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but indicates that more than half of the dead are women and children.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and AP)
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