The triumphant release prompted celebratory scenes throughout Israel, and Donald Trump marked the occasion with a Knesset address
Israel reclaimed its 20 living hostages early Monday after they spent more than two years in Hamas captivity, a triumphant moment that marked the first stage of President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan.
Video footage showed some of the hostages speaking to their families from video calls in Gaza before being turned over to the Israel Defense Forces. The first seven were released to the IDF around 2 a.m. Eastern Time, with the remaining 13 living hostages joining them roughly two hours later. All of the living hostages arrived on Israeli soil by 5 a.m. Monday.
They were taken to a military base in southern Israel and then to hospitals throughout Israel. The Israeli government outfitted their rooms with “welcome kits” that included personal cards from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, computers, phones, and tablets. Joyful Israelis gathered near the base and in Hostage Square in Tel Aviv to celebrate.
Trump himself landed in Tel Aviv to a hero’s welcome as the release process unfolded. The control tower at Ben Gurion Airport greeted him with the message, “Welcome to the state of Israel, Mr. President. Your visit carries deep meaning for our people in these times. Thank you for your friendship and the unbreakable bond between our nations. God bless America, God bless Israel and the friendship between our peoples.” A massive sign displayed on the beach in Tel Aviv depicted Trump’s face alongside the message, “THANK YOU.”
Trump then traveled to the Knesset to meet with Netanyahu and deliver an address, where lawmakers met him with frequent applause and standing ovations. Trump’s prepared remarks acknowledged the “cruelty of Oct. 7” and declared victory.
“It should now be clear to everyone throughout this region that decades of fomenting terrorism and extremism, jihadism and anti-Semitism have not worked—they have backfired completely and totally,” Trump says in the prepared remarks. “Israel has won all that can be won by force of arms. Now, it is time to translate these victories against terrorists on the battlefield into the ultimate prize of peace and prosperity for the entire Middle East.”
The hostage release is part of a ceasefire deal that also requires Hamas to return the remains of deceased hostages, though it’s unclear exactly when that will happen. Israel released around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners as part of the deal’s initial phase and withdrew its military forces from around half the territory of Gaza.
Trump will leave Israel to attend a summit on the deal scheduled to take place in Egypt on Monday. It is there that world leaders are expected to discuss the peace plan’s subsequent stages, including Hamas’s disarmament and the formal end of the war. Questions remain on those details, but Trump expressed confidence that the ceasefire will hold.
“The war is over,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday evening. “We have a lot of verbal guarantees, and I don’t think they’re going to want to disappoint me.”
Netanyahu, in a videotaped statement late Sunday evening before the hostages returned, said the ceasefire marks the “beginning of a new path” in the Middle East.
“This is an emotional evening, an evening of tears, an evening of joy, because tomorrow our children will return to our borders,” Netanyahu said. “Tomorrow is the beginning of a new path—a path of rebuilding, a path of healing, and, I hope, a path of united hearts.”
Trump made good on his promise to help bringƒ the hostages home by issuing several strict deadlines to Hamas while fully backing Israel’s war operations in Gaza. The pressure campaign worked, squeezing the terror group and eroding its support among Arab nations, particularly the Hamas-friendly Qatar.
Israel’s government approved the deal at Netanyahu’s urging last week, and in discussions with negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the Jewish state ensured that its military will remain in parts of Gaza to prevent terrorism and stop Hamas from rearming. The IDF will retain control of the territory along Gaza’s border with Egypt—a central pipeline for weapons—and other areas that include Hamas strongholds like Gaza City and Khan Younis, according to the Times of Israel.
Witkoff and Kushner addressed hundreds of thousands of Israelis at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening. They praised the “heroism” of the IDF and the “exceptional” state of Israel. The crowd broke out in chants of “Thank you Kushner! Thank you Trump!”
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