He attended a regional peace ceremony and signed the Israel-Hamas peace agreement.
President Donald Trump spent 36 hours in the Middle East. He arrived Monday morning, local time, and addressed the Israeli parliament, the Knesset. He then proceeded to Egypt for a peace summit.
Hamas released 7 hostages before President Trump arrived. The remainder of the 20 living hostages were released later on Monday, and 4 coffins holding deceased hostages. Israel has not opened Gaza’s Rafah crossing due to Hamas’ not releasing the rest of the dead hostages, both actions being terms of the ceasefire agreement.
The families of the deceased hostages whose bodies have not been released wrote to Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, urging him to “pull out every stop and leave no stone unturned in demanding that Hamas fulfill their end of the agreement and bring all the remaining hostages home.”
President Trump responded to questions about Hamas upon his return to the White House, saying, “If they don’t disarm, we will disarm them. They know I’m not playing games. Now we did something monumental. We got the hostages back. That was the first thing we had to do.”
Israel has released a total of 1,968 Palestinians. Of that number, 250 were Palestinian prisoners, and 1,808 Palestinian detainees who were arrested after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For President Trump and U.S. officials as they work to ensure the ceasefire holds.
- For Israeli leaders and IDF forces as they assess the steps in complying with the first phase of peace.
Sources: Fox News, ABC News, Townhall, UPI News