United States President Donald Trump on Thursday revealed that the Gaza hostages should be released on Monday or Tuesday after Israel and Hamas reached an agreement
Trump also announced that he hopes to attend the official peace signing ceremony in Egypt.
The U.S. President made this known during a White House Cabinet meeting on Thursday.
This address came after Israel and Hamas reached an agreement in Egypt on Wednesday.
Speaking on the development, Trump expressed confidence that the agreement reached between Israel and Hamas would lead to “lasting peace.”
Trump said under the plan Gaza is going to be “slowly redone,” a reference to plans to rebuild the Palestinian enclave.
Trump stated: “We are getting the hostages back on Tuesday, Monday or Tuesday, and that’ll be a day of joy.
“We ended the war in Gaza and really, on a much bigger basis, created peace.
“I think it’s going to be a lasting peace, hopefully an everlasting peace.”
Recall that on Wednesday, Israel and Hamas inked their approval on the inaugural phase of Trump’s Gaza peace initiative.
The agreement, announced on Wednesday amid high-stakes indirect talks in Egypt, paves the way for an immediate ceasefire, the release of hostages, and a surge in humanitarian aid.
This development is expected to offer a glimmer of hope after two grueling years of conflict that have claimed thousands of lives and devastated the region.
The agreement was announced by Trump who took to his social media page.
“This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed-upon line as the first steps toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace,” President Donald Trump wrote on social media in trumpeting the agreement. “All Parties will be treated fairly!”
While the details of the agreement remain sketchy, Trump’s proposal called for an immediate ceasefire and release of the 48 hostages that militants in Gaza still hold from their attack on Israel two years ago.
Pan-Atlantic Kompass reports that this would be the third ceasefire reached since the war began.
The first was reached in November 2023. That ceasefire saw more than 100 hostages, mainly women and children, freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners before it broke down.
In the second, in January and February of this year, Palestinian militants released 25 Israeli hostages and the bodies of eight more in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. Israel ended that ceasefire in March with a surprise bombardment.
Egyptian President, Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, has reacted after Israel and Hamas reached an agreement.
The President hailed the agreement as a ‘historic moment’
“The world is witnessing a historic moment”, Egypt’s President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi said.
“This agreement not only closes the chapter of war; it also opens the door of hope for the peoples of the region for a future defined by justice and stability,” he says.
Also, Israeli Prime Minister’s office spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian, during a press conference on Thursday, confirmed that a ceasefire would occur within 24 hours of Ben Netanyahu’s cabinet meeting.
She said that the ceasefire will begin in Gaza within 24 hours after this evening’s Israeli cabinet meeting
“Within 24 hours after the cabinet meeting takes place, a ceasefire will then begin in Gaza,” Bedrosian said.
After that, she said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will redeploy to a line, which will lead to the military controlling and holding about 53% of the Gaza Strip.
After this, there will be a 72-hour window for Hamas to release the remaining hostages back into Israel, she added.
