President Trump brokered the deal that many are lauding as a massive breakthrough in the ongoing Israeli conflict.
President Trump announced over the weekend that Israel and Hamas reached a US-brokered ceasefire agreement, ending two years of war and committing to release all remaining hostages. The new treaty officially ended the bloodiest war in the history of the Middle East that kicked off after Hamas’ deadly attack in Israel on October 7, 2023. While Hamas initially took hundreds of Jewish Israelis hostage, only twenty survived long enough to see the end of the war. Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were on-hand with leaders from both parties to secure the agreement.
“Today, the skies are calm, the guns are silent, the sirens are still, and the sun rises on a holy land that is finally at peace, a land and a region that will live, God willing, in peace for all eternity,” Trump said during a speech to Israel’s parliament. The President also commended Secretary Rubio as “the great US Secretary of State in history” for his role in securing what Benjamin Netanyahu called “lasting peace” in the Middle East. Trump also praised his special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner during his speech. He went on to thank Muslim and Arab nations that supported his ambition for peace in the region and helped press Hamas to release the remaining hostages.
Under the terms of the agreement, Hamas must release all living hostages within 72 hours of the treaty’s start. By Monday, Israeli officials confirmed the final unaccounted hostage had died in captivity. President Trump met with the families of the surviving hostages on Monday prior to his speech. Many of the hostages were thought to originally been taken by Hamas from the Nahal Oz kibbutz on October 7, one of the deadliest sites of Hamas’ initial attacks that began the war. Officials confirmed that two hostages previously believed to be alive had died, while Hamas released the remains of four other deceased prisoners.
Shortly after signing the agreement, President Trump also met with several other world leaders at an international summit in Egypt, during which Trump secured an invite for Netanyahu, who was originally thought to be excluded from the event. Among the most prominent leaders in attendance was Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who congratulated the President personally.
Despite the historic agreement, significant issues remain in solving the issues that have plagued the Middle East since well before October 7. Egypt’s foreign minister said while both sides agreed to begin implementing the first phase of peace – including the release of the hostages – there is little trust between the two sides, and all negotiations reportedly required several envoys from the U.S., Egypt and other Arab nations to act as intermediaries. Part of the agreement relies on the creation of a new Palestinian security force that may require up to $53 billion from the World Bank to bring to fruition.
Egypt, which acted as the central base throughout most of the final negotiations, awarded President Trump the Nile Collar, the history civilian award in the country. President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi called Trump a “great peacemaker” and thanked him for his “distinguished services to humanity.” Following the final treaty and international summit, Trump briefly returned to Egypt to accept the award before returning to the United States.
