Gaza as it happened - Trump says next phase of peace plan has ‘started’ after Hamas releases Israeli hostages

Donald Trump’s departure from Egypt has drawn the curtain on the summit designed to bring about a permanent end to fighting between Israel and Hamas.

The US president left aboard Air Force One just before 9pm local time, having been hosted by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi at the summit in Sharm el-Sheikh.

Trump and leaders from Egypt, Turkey and Qatar signed the text of the Gaza peace agreement in the presence of about two dozen leaders from Europe and the Middle East.

It was a whirlwind tour of the region for Trump, who earlier addressed Israel’s Knesset against the backdrop of Israel and Hamas conducting the release of each others’ hostages and prisoners.

Donald Trump said there was momentum “toward a great, glorious and lasting peace” and suggested he would stay the course to see his 20-point Gaza peace plan implemented beyond the initial ceasefire phase.

Many in the region are concerned the next phase, which includes the disarming of Hamas militants, may prove difficult and lead to a new flare-up of war.

There are also concerns the US president may lose interest if the process breaks down and appears intractable.

Trump, in his closing words at the Gaza peace summit, insisted he would be “a partner in securing a better future”, and that there would be “a lot of money coming into Gaza and a lot of . . . building, cleaning up and building”.

One condition, however, was “that Gaza’s reconstruction requires that it be demilitarised”, he said.

At a press conference following the peace agreement’s signing, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi effusively thanked Donald Trump for his efforts at brokering regional peace, before awarding him the country’s Order of the Nile.

The Egyptian leader said the peace agreement was the region’s “last hope for peace”.

Sisi also affirmed that a two-state solution was the “only way” to consolidate peace and said Palestinians had the right to live in an independent state side by side with Israelis. He added his country would host a reconstruction summit for Gaza.

Donald Trump, the presidents of Egypt and Turkey and the emir of Qatar signed the text of the Gaza peace agreement in a ceremony at the Sharm al Sheikh summit in the presence of some two dozen heads of state.

All four signatory countries had mediated between Israel and Hamas.

“It took 3,000 years to get to this point,” Trump said, holding up the page with the signatures. “It’s going to hold up.”

The ceremony is intended to affirm that the peace deal has international support ahead of what will probably be a difficult and contentious second phase.

Trump thanked and praised mediators including the ruler of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

World leaders had their photos taken with US President Donald Trump at the Sharm Al Sheikh peace summit. They walked up one by one and posed with him against a background that featured the summit logo and the slogan “Peace 2025”.

Donald Trump said the second phase of his peace plan, designed to bring about a permanent end to fighting between Israel and Hamas, had already begun.

“It’s started, as far as we’re concerned,” the US president said during a joint press conference with Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Sharm al Sheikh in Egypt.

“The phases are all a little bit mixed in with each other. You can start cleaning up. You look at Gaza, it’s a lot of clean-up.”

Trump suggested Arab leaders assembled at the peace summit would provide support for Gaza. He said every country that was asked to participate had come and that he thought “you’ll see some tremendous progress” in the Middle East.

He praised the Egyptian president for providing “good leadership”. Sisi said he knew that only Trump could achieve peace.

Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer, right, and France’s President Emmanuel Macron, left, speak with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, centre.

The plane carrying Donald Trump to historic Middle East peace talks has touched down in Egypt. The US president was greeted by the Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Israel’s minister of defence has said Hamas has “failed to meet its commitments” under the peace plan by announcing it would return only four bodies of deceased hostages on Monday.

The exchange between Israel and Hamas was due to include the return of the bodies of 28 dead hostages.

“Any delay or deliberate avoidance will be considered a gross violation of the agreement and will be responded to accordingly,” Israel Katz, one of the more hardline members of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, said in a post on X.

Separately, IDF spokesperson Effie Defrin said: “Even now, efforts are being made, at all levels, to exert pressure to continue the process of releasing the murdered hostages. We demand that Hamas uphold their part of the agreement.”

Donald Trump is heading to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh where he is to chair a “peace summit” with Egyptian President Abel Fattah al-Sisi. 

The meeting is intended to reaffirm international support for the US president’s 20-point plan to end the two-year war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and will be attended by leaders from Arab, Muslim and European nations.

Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, is expected to attend, which would be significant for Arab states that have pushed for the authority to have a greater role in postwar Gaza.

Benjamin Netanyahu will not be attending, with the Israeli prime minister’s office citing a Jewish holiday that begins at sundown.

Trump will now be expecting Arab and Muslim states to maintain pressure on Hamas to fully implement the deal, provide troops for an international stabilisation force that is to deploy in Gaza and to fund the shattered strip’s reconstruction.

Thousands of Palestinians lined the streets of Khan Younis in Gaza to cheer prisoners from the strip, freed by Israel earlier on Monday under the terms of its ceasefire agreement with Hamas brokered by the US, Qatar and Egypt.

Footage on Al Jazeera TV showed a row of buses carrying the prisoners driving through throngs of people to arrive at the Nasser Medical Complex in the city where crowds including their family members awaited their arrival.

The detainees were arrested by Israel during its offensive in the territory triggered by the Hamas-led attacks of October 7 2023 in southern Israel.

Earlier in the day buses delivered prisoners to Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. Some of the freed men are to be expelled to third countries via Egypt.

Israeli authorities confirmed that 1,968 Palestinian prisoners were released from Israeli jails on Monday as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal.

Earlier in the day, 20 living Israeli hostages were released from Gaza.

The Israel Prison Service said that some Palestinian prisoners were released to the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, while others were released to the Kerem Shalom border crossing ahead of their return to Gaza or exile to a third country.

The US-brokered deal called for Israel to release some 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences on terror-related charges, and an additional 1,700 Palestinians arrested in Gaza after Hamas’s October 7 2023 attack that triggered the war.

Israel is still awaiting the release of some 24 deceased hostages from Gaza, as per the terms of the ceasefire deal. Four bodies are expected to be handed over today.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the ceasefire brokered between Israel and Hamas and the release of hostages inspire greater hope for peace in his country, where Russia’s all-out war is grinding into a fifth year.

“When peace is achieved for one part of the world, it brings more hope for peace in other regions where life is still under threat,” Zelenskyy said in a statement on Monday.

He hailed “the leadership and determination of President Trump” for playing a significant role in the release of hostages and a ceasefire in Gaza, calling it “truly an extraordinary event”.

Zelenskyy held two calls with Donald Trump over the weekend, during which they discussed efforts to bring Russia to the negotiating table.

Donald Trump has finished his speech to the Israeli Knesset, which lasted more than an hour and was received with repeated ovations.

“I love Israel, I am with you all the way,” he said in conclusion.

The president is due to fly to Egypt shortly to attend a “peace summit” with 20 world leaders.

Donald Trump has called on Israeli President Isaac Herzog to issue a pardon to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on long-running trial for alleged corruption in Israel.

“Hey, I have an idea — why don’t you give him a pardon?” said Trump, pointing at Netanyahu as he addressed lawmakers in the Knesset.

“It just seems to make so much sense. Whether we like it or not, this has been one of the great wartime presidents.”

The Israeli prime minister has been on trial since 2020 over charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. He has denied the charges.

Donald Trump has said it would be “great” if the US could strike a peace deal with Iran.

“Wouldn’t it be nice. Because I think they want to,” the US president said in his speech to Israel’s Knesset.

The US briefly joined Israel’s 12-day war against Iran, and bombed its two main uranium enrichment facilities. The attacks severely damaged Iran’s nuclear plants, but western diplomats say the programme is not fully destroyed.

The conflict ended indirect talks between the Trump administration and Tehran aimed at securing a deal to end the years-long stand-off over the Islamic republic’s nuclear programme.

“The hand of friendship and co-operation is open . . . we are ready when you are,” Trump said.

But he added that “first we have to get Russia done” in a reference to his efforts to end Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Donald Trump said he intended “to be a partner” in rebuilding Gaza, through an international supervisory “Board of Peace” proposed under his plan to end the conflict.

He added that it was now the Palestinians’ chance “to turn forever from the path of terror and violence”.

“The total focus of Gazans must be of restoring the fundamentals of security, safety, dignity and economic development . . . I intend to be a partner in this effort,” he said.

Donald Trump has said “the long and painful nightmare is finally over” for both Israelis and Palestinians.

The US president said that Israel has “won all that can be won by force”, and urged the country to focus on “the ultimate prize for peace and prosperity in the Middle East”.

Both Israel and Hamas have exchanged prisoners, sparking scenes of celebrations. But they have yet to agree to the second phase of Trump’s peace plan.

Families of Israeli hostages have expressed their dismay that only four bodies of 28 deceased captives held in Gaza will be returned on Monday. 

Hamas released the remaining 20 living Israeli hostages on Monday as part of US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan to end the two-year war in Gaza.

The dead hostages — who were either killed in Hamas’s October 7 2023 attack or died in captivity — are also supposed to be returned to Israel as part of the agreement.

But diplomats have said that process could take longer because of the challenges of identifying their whereabouts.

“The hostage families were shocked and dismayed to learn that only four bodies of deceased hostages will be returned today, out of 28 held by Hamas,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said.

Donald Trump has hailed “the historic dawn of a new Middle East” after Hamas freed the 20 remaining living Israeli hostages in Gaza.

Addressing the Knesset, the US president thanked Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli prime minister, and the “Arab and Muslim world ”, which he said had helped to form a plan to put an end to the fighting between Israel and Hamas.

Donald Trump’s speech to the Knesset has been interrupted by a protester from the floor of the Knesset.

The protester was quickly escorted out of the room, which began to chant Trump’s name in response.

The US president spoke following more than an hour of tributes from Israeli politicians.

Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners freed from Israeli jails have started arriving at the city of Ramallah in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip.

The release is part of the US brokered ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas and comes after the militants handed back earlier today all 20 remaining Israeli hostages it had held in the Gaza Strip for two years.

Hamas is over the coming days also due to return to Israel the bodies of some 28 Israeli hostages who died in captivity. Israel has agreed to free some 2,000 Palestinians, including 250 serving life sentences. 

Big crowds welcomed the freed Palestinians in Ramallah. In Gaza, hundreds assembled in front of the Nasser Medical Complex in the City of Khan Younis to await the arrival of the prisoners.

Palestinian health officials in Gaza said hospitals in the enclave had received 63 bodies, including 60 people retrieved from rubble, over the past 24 hours. 

The update came as world leaders were gathering in Egypt for a peace summit to end the two-year old conflict between Hamas and Israel.

Health officials said the number of Palestinians killed by Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza now stood at 67,869.

The health ministry said many victims were still buried under rubble and on the roads.

Much of the densely populated strip has been reduced to wastelands since the war was triggered by Hamas’s October 7 2023 attack, during which militants killed 1,200 people and seized 250 hostages. 

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will not attend the peace summit in Sharm El Sheikh, according to state television.

Instead, the kingdom’s foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, has arrived in Egypt to represent the country, state media announced.

Netanyahu has thanked Donald Trump for the US President’s support and “open[ing] the door to a historic expansion of peace”.

Speaking amid multiple ovations for Trump in the Knesset, Netanyahu said “no American president has ever done more for Israel”.

He added that Trump’s peace plan allowed Israel to “achieve all our objectives” in the war with Hamas.

“Hamas caved in,” he added.

Benjamin Netanyahu will not attend the US-Egyptian peace conference in Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday, according to the Israeli Prime Minister’s office.

In a statement, Netanyahu’s office said the Israeli leader had thanked US President Donald Trump for his invitation to participate in the “peace summit”, but said he would “not be able to participate due to the proximity of the holiday”.

The Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah starts at sundown on Monday. 

This runs counter to an announcement from Egypt earlier that Netanyahu would attend the summit, which is expected to include regional and western leaders, as well as Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the occupied West Bank. 

The speaker of the Knesset has welcomed Donald Trump with a lengthy tribute.

Amir Ohana said that Israel would work with US House Speaker Mike Johnson to submit Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize next year.

“You have proven that true peace is achieved through strength,” Ohana said

He added that the president was “the best friend Israel has ever had in the White House”.

Crowds are gathering in Palestine to welcome the first prisoners returned by Israel as part of the deal to end the two-year war in the enclave.

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and France’s President Emmanuel Macron have met before attending a Middle East peace summit in Egypt on ending the Gaza war.

Earlier on Monday, Sir Keir posted on X, the social media platform: “Today is the first, crucial phase in ending the war in the Middle East. Now we must deliver lasting peace and a secure future for the whole region.”

The PM said the UK was providing additional humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza, and “we will lead efforts to accelerate its reconstruction”.

US President Donald Trump enters the Israeli Knesset to a standing ovation, cheering and sustained applause from lawmakers.

 UN secretary-general António Guterres urged Israel and Hamas to build on the momentum created by the release of Israeli hostages to honour their commitments to Donald Trump’s 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza.

In a post on X, the social media platform, he said he was “profoundly relieved” by the release of the 20 living hostages, and called for the release of the 28 deceased captives. 

“I urge all parties to build on this momentum & to honor their commitments under the ceasefire to end the nightmare in Gaza,” Guterres said.

“The @UN is working to support all efforts to end the conflict in Gaza & alleviate the suffering of civilians.”

Under the US president’s plan, the UN is to oversee a surge of aid into Gaza, which has been devastated by the two-year war and is gripped by widespread starvation.

Egypt has said that Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, will attend a peace summit it is co-hosting with the US in the Red Sea resort of Sharm al Sheikh.

Mohamed al Shennawy, spokesman for Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the Egyptian president, has confirmed that Netanyahu would attend to “solidify the ceasefire agreement in Gaza and ensure it is complied with”.

Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, will also attend.

The last visit by an Israeli prime minister to Egypt was by Naftali Bennett in 2021.

Omri Miran has been reunited with his wife Lishay Miran-Lavi after being held for more than two years in Gaza.

The Israeli foreign ministry has named the latest 13 living hostages to be released.

They are: Elkana Bohbot, Avinatan Or, Yosef-Chaim Ohana, Evyatar David, Rom Broslavsky, Segev Kalfon, Maxim Herkin, Bar Abraham Kupershtein, Eitan Horn, Ariel Cunio, David Cunio , Matan Zangauker, Nimrod Cohen.

Buses carrying Palestinian detainees are leaving Ketziot prison in southern Israel

The final 13 living Israeli hostages released by Hamas have been handed over to Israeli forces and are now on their way out of Gaza, the Israeli military said.

“13 returning hostages are currently being accompanied by [Israeli military and security] forces on their return to Israel, where they will undergo an initial medical assessment,” the military said in a statement.

“The commanders and soldiers of the [Israeli military] salute and embrace the returning hostages as they make their way home.”

Hamas’s military wing said it was committed to US President Donald Trump’s agreement as long as Israel stuck to the deal. 

“The agreement reached is the fruit of the steadfastness of our people and the resilience of their resistance fighters,” the Qassam Brigades said.

“We declare our commitment to the agreement reached and its associated timetables, as long as the occupation [sic] adheres to them.”

But it added that Israel had “failed to recover its prisoners through military pressure, despite its superior intelligence and the surplus power it possesses”.

“Now it has surrendered and recovered its prisoners through an exchange deal, as the resistance promised from the beginning,” the Qassam Brigades said.

Hamas has released the final 13 living hostages whom it seized during its October 7 2023 attack on Israel, the Israeli military said.

“According to information provided by the Red Cross, 13 hostages have been transferred into their custody and are on their way to [Israeli military and security] forces in the Gaza Strip,” the military said.

In exchange for the move — which is due to be followed by the return of the bodies of a further 28 hostages who have died — Israel is due to release more than 1,900 Palestinians, including 250 serving life sentences and another 1,700 Gazans who have been seized and held without charge by Israel since October 7.

The IDF has released pictures of former hostages arriving back in Israel.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff has praised the “vital role” played by the UK in helping to secure a political breakthrough in Gaza, a day after another senior US official claimed such a notion was “delusional”.

Writing on X, the social media platform, Witkoff paid special tribute to the “incredible input and tireless efforts” of Jonathan Powell, Sir Keir Starmer’s national security adviser, who was closely involved in efforts to bring peace to Northern Ireland in the 1990s.

“I would like to acknowledge the vital role of the United Kingdom in assisting and co-ordinating efforts that have led us to this historic day in Israel,” Witkoff said. 

However, on Sunday US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called UK education secretary Bridget Phillipson “delusional” after she said Britain had played “a key role behind the scenes in shaping this”.

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog greeted Donald Trump at Tel Aviv’s international airport by telling him that Israelis “welcome you with so much love and so much gratitude!”

“Thank you for all you have done to bring our hostages home! Thank you for your commitment to building a better future of peace in our region! God bless Israel! God bless America!” Herzog said, according to a statement from his office.

Herzog, who does not have executive powers, met Trump at Ben Gurion airport alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The US president is due to address the Israeli Knesset on Monday.

The return of Israeli hostages from Hamas imprisonment is a “moment of pure joy” for those families and a “moment of relief for the entire world”, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday morning.

Von der Leyen said a peace deal to be finalised in Egypt on Monday was a “historical milestone” that would mean “a page can be turned. A new chapter can begin”.

The EU is “ready to contribute to its success with all tools at our disposal”, said von der Leyen.

“In particular, by providing support on governance and for the reform of the Palestinian Authority. We will be an active force within the Palestinian Donors Group. And we will provide EU funding for the reconstruction of Gaza,” she added.

The UN says it has been able to start scaling up the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza following the ceasefire deal last week.

The UN said that along with partners, it had “distributed hundreds of thousands of hot meals and bread bundles – both in the south and in the north” on Sunday.

Cooking gas as well as tents for displaced people, frozen meat, fresh fruit, flour and medicines had also crossed into the enclave, said the UN.

It said the easing of movement and access restrictions in multiple areas has allowed it to “pre-position medical and emergency supplies to where they are needed most”. 

Hamas has portrayed the hostage releases and the expected handover of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel as a success for its positions throughout the war. 

It said in a statement that Israel had failed to free the hostages by force and had to “submit to the terms of the resistance . . . the return of their captured soldiers could only be achieved through an exchange deal and ending the war of genocide.”

Hamas added that it had “exerted all efforts to preserve the lives of the occupation’s prisoners, despite the attempts of war criminal Netanyahu and his terrorist army to target and eliminate them”.

Emmanuel Macron congratulated Israel and the families of the freed hostages on Monday morning, saying their liberation could pave a path to peace in the two-year old conflict. 

“I share the joy of the families and of the Israeli people as seven hostages have just been handed over to the Red Cross,” the French president wrote on X, the social media platform, adding that France would remain involved in the implementation of the US-led peace plan. 

“With their release . . . peace becomes possible for Israel, for Gaza, and for the region,” he said

Red Cross vehicles are on their way to a location in southern Gaza ahead of the release of a second group of hostages, the Israeli military said.

It added that “several” were expected to be handed over to the Red Cross in the latest exchange.

Seven hostages were released earlier on Monday and have since returned to Israel.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has welcomed Donald Trump to Israel.

Earlier, the US president told reporters “the war is over” after he brokered a peace deal to end the two-year conflict in Gaza.