United States President Donald Trump has hailed what he called a “tremendous day for the Middle East” after Israel and Hamas signed a declaration aimed at cementing a lasting ceasefire in Gaza.
The agreement was signed on Monday in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, following a summit attended by Trump, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and the leaders of Qatar and Turkey, who are acting as guarantors of the deal.
“This is a tremendous day for the world, it’s a tremendous day for the Middle East,” Trump told world leaders at the summit, adding that they had “achieved what everybody said was impossible.”
The ceasefire deal comes after Hamas freed the last 20 surviving hostages it had held in Gaza for more than two years. In exchange, Israel released nearly 2,000 prisoners, most of them Palestinians, according to Israel’s prison service.
“For so many families across this land, it has been years since you’ve known a single day of true peace,” Trump said earlier in an address to Israel’s parliament, where he received a lengthy standing ovation. “Not only for Israelis, but also for Palestinians and for many others, the long and painful nightmare is finally over.”
In Tel Aviv, crowds erupted in tears and celebration as news spread of the hostages’ release, while in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, Palestinians gathered to welcome home freed prisoners, chanting “Allahu akbar” meaning “God is the greatest.”
In Gaza’s Khan Yunis, families climbed onto Red Cross buses to embrace their loved ones as they returned home. “Welcome home,” Israel’s foreign ministry said in a post on X (formerly Twitter), while the Israeli military released emotional videos showing reunions between families and freed captives.
The declaration signed by Trump and the regional leaders pledged to “pursue a comprehensive vision of peace, security, and shared prosperity in the region,” welcoming “the progress achieved in establishing comprehensive and durable peace arrangements in the Gaza Strip.”
President Sisi described the agreement as one that “closes a painful chapter in human history” and “sets the stage for a two-state solution.”
As part of the deal, Hamas is also expected to return the bodies of 28 hostages who died in captivity, along with the remains of an Israeli soldier killed in a 2014 Gaza conflict. Israel confirmed that four of the bodies had already been handed over to the Red Cross.
The conflict began on 7 October 2023, when Hamas-led militants launched a deadly assault on Israel, killing 1,219 people, most of them civilians, and taking 251 hostages.
While most of those captives were freed in earlier truces, the families of those still held had endured years of anguish. Monday’s agreement, hailed by Trump as “the dawn of a new era,” marks the first time since the war began that both sides have formally committed to a long-term ceasefire.
As celebrations continued in cities across Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza, Trump declared, “At long last, we have peace in the Middle East.”