Hamas releases the last hostages with the implementation of the first phase of the peace plan

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The last 20 surviving Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza have returned home in an emotional exchange that also led to the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinians from prisons in Israel, as part of Donald Trump’s campaign to end the two-year-old war in the Palestinian enclave.

The historic agreement represents the US president’s most significant foreign policy success during his second term, which he used to articulate his grand vision for broader peace in the Middle East.

Monday’s long-awaited handover sparked jubilation in both Israel and Palestine, and came as Trump visited Israel and Egypt on a trip to promote a 20-point plan to end the bloodiest war in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In a speech to the Israeli parliament that received warm applause, Trump outlined his post-war vision, hailing the “historic dawn of a new Middle East” and “the beginning of great reconciliation and lasting harmony” between Israel and its neighbors.

The US President said: “The forces of chaos, terrorism, and devastation that have plagued the region for decades now stand weak, isolated, and completely defeated.”

“Now is the time to translate these victories against terrorists on the battlefield into the ultimate prize of peace and prosperity for the entire Middle East.”

Trump also extended an olive branch to Iran, which was bombed by the United States and Israel during a 12-day war earlier this year, saying it would “be great” to reach a peace deal with Tehran.

Trump revealed the plan to end the war in Gaza last month, with the first phase focusing on a ceasefire and hostage exchange, while the second phase aims to secure a permanent end to the fighting, in which a ceasefire is achieved. agitation If disarmed, Israel will withdraw from Gaza and an international stabilization force will be deployed in the Palestinian Strip.

Although Israel and Hamas have agreed on the first phase of the plan, they have not yet agreed on the second phase, which diplomats say will be much more complicated given the significant differences between the positions of Israel and Hamas.

The first part of Trump’s plan began smoothly on Monday, with Hamas releasing the 20 living Israeli hostages — all men in their 20s, 30s and 40s — in two groups in northern and southern Gaza.

Shortly thereafter, Israel released more than 1,900 Palestinians, including 250 serving life sentences, and more than 1,700 Gazans who had been detained and held without charge by Israel since the war in the Strip began two years ago.

But in a sign of the challenges facing reaching any agreement, the group representing the hostage families accused Hamas of violating the first phase of the agreement when the armed group announced that it would release the bodies of only four of the 28 hostages killed on Monday.

The movement said in a statement, “We demand the return of all 28 hostages. We will not abandon anyone,” calling for the suspension of implementation of the peace agreement until all 28 bodies are returned.

However, in an appearance later Monday at the US-Egypt “peace summit” in Sharm El-Sheikh, Trump said talks on the second phase of his peace plan had already begun and insisted that his agreement represented the “first steps” toward peace.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi thanked Trump for his efforts to mediate regional peace, saying that the agreement is “the last hope for peace” in the region. Sisi also stressed that the two-state solution is “the only way” to promote peace, and said that Palestinians have the right to live in an independent state side by side with Israelis.