US President Donald Trump hailed a “tremendous day for the Middle East” as he and regional leaders signed a declaration intended to cement the ceasefire in Gaza, hours after Israel and Hamas exchanged hostages and prisoners.
Trump made a lightning visit to Israel, where he lauded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an address to the Knesset, before flying to Egypt for a summit on Gaza where he and the leaders of Egypt, Qatar and Turkey signed the declaration as guarantors to the ceasefire deal.
“This is a tremendous day for the world, it’s a tremendous day for the Middle East,” Trump said as more than two dozen world leaders sat down to talk in the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
He later declared that the assembled leaders had “achieved what everybody said was impossible.”
“At long last, we have peace in the Middle East,” Trump said in his speech.
According to the declaration, the signatories pledged to “pursue a comprehensive vision of peace, security and shared prosperity in the region,” and also welcomed “the progress achieved in establishing comprehensive and durable peace arrangements in the Gaza Strip.”
But the statement — released in full on Monday night by the White House — was vague about the path ahead for peace between Israel and its neighbors, including the Palestinians, making no mention of a one or two-state solution.
“We’re talking about rebuilding Gaza. I’m not talking about single state or double state or two state,” Trump told reporters on the flight back to the United States.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said the Gaza deal “closes a painful chapter in human history” and sets the stage for a two-state solution.
As part of Trump’s plan to end the Gaza war, Hamas on Monday freed the last 20 surviving hostages it had held for two years in Gaza.
In exchange, Israel released 1,968 mostly Palestinian prisoners held in its jails, its prison service said.
“For so many families across this land, it has been years since you’ve known a single day of true peace,” Trump told Israel’s parliament, where he received a standing ovation.
“Not only for Israelis, but also for Palestinians and for many others, the long and painful nightmare is finally over,” he said.
In Tel Aviv, a huge crowd that had gathered to support the 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 occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, huge crowds gathered to welcome home the first Palestinian prisoners with some chanting “Allahu akbar,” or “God is the greatest,” in celebration.
And in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis, residents climbed the sides of the slow-moving Red Cross buses carrying the prisoners to greet their loved ones with a hug or kiss.
‘Emotion and sadness’
“Welcome home,” Israel’s foreign ministry said on social media, hailing the return of the hostages.
None of the captives spoke directly to AFP immediately after their return, but videos filmed and released by the Israeli military captured some of the raw emotion of the reunions.
“My life, you are my life... you are a hero,” cried Einav Zangauker as she embraced her smiling son Matan in one video.
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.
Of the prisoners Israel freed in return, around 250 were security detainees, including many convicted of killing Israelis, while about 1,700 were taken into custody by the army in Gaza during the war.
On 7 October 2023, Hamas-led militants seized 251 hostages during their 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 had remained in captivity leading lives of constant pain and worry for their loved ones.
‘A new birth’
In Gaza, the ceasefire brought relief, but with the territory racked by a humanitarian crisis and much of it flattened by war, the road to recovery remains long.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza 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 greatest joy is seeing my whole family gathered to welcome me,” Yusef Afana, a 25-year-old released prisoner from north Gaza, told AFP in Khan Yunis.
“I spent 10 months in prison — some of the hardest days I’ve ever lived,” he said.
In Ramallah, Palestinian prisoners 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 told AFP, flanked by his parents.
The UN Palestinian relief agency, UNRWA, called for the return of aid to battered Gaza.
“Time to let in humanitarian aid at scale including through UNRWA,” said its chief, Philippe Lazzarini, on social media.