The 20 remaining living hostages in Gaza were returned to Israel earlier Monday after two years of war. Hamas released the names of four deceased hostages whose bodies it says will be handed over. All 250 Palestinian prisoners and more than 1,700 detainees from Gaza, held by Israel without charge since the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, have now been released.
Emotional scenes unfolded as the freed hostages reunited with their families in hospitals across Israel and as Palestinian prisoners met with their relatives in the West Bank and arrived in buses to large crowds in Gaza.
US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said Monday that he and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, began working on the “implementation side” of the peace deal between Israel and Hamas almost immediately and will maintain that role in the region.
“The minute we had inked the deal, Jared and I were already working on the implementation side of the deal, so we are dug in. We’ll be here quite a bit. That’s at the direction of the president. That’s probably going to be one of the more important phases here,” Witkoff told reporters in Egypt alongside Kushner, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
CNN previously reported that Kushner was expected to continue playing an active role in the next phases of the negotiations for peace.
“It’s a great pleasure and an honor to have you with us here in the city of peace,” Sisi told Trump in front of reporters.
“I’ve been very confident that your excellency is the only one who’s capable of bringing this about and bring an end to this war,” he continued. “I even said that very precisely during my communication with your excellency that you are the only one who is able to bring about peace.”
Now, leaders need to ensure that the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas holds, that the bodies of the remaining deceased hostages in Gaza are returned to their families, and that humanitarian assistance is allowed into the Gaza Strip, Sisi said.
The next steps of the ceasefire plan also need to be worked on “very closely,” he added.
Egypt looks forward to Trump’s “support and your sponsorship with us in the conference for the reconstruction (of Gaza),” Sisi continued.
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President Donald Trump said Monday that phase two of his 20-point ceasefire plan to end the war between Israel and Hamas has “already started” as he meets with world leaders in Egypt about the future of Gaza and Middle East peace.
“It started, as far as we’re concerned,” Trump, sitting alongside Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, said of implementing the next phase of the agreement. “And you know, the phases are all a little bit mixed in with each other.”
His comments come as his top diplomats, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff, have argued that the Trump administration’s aspirations go beyond ending the war, and instead view his 20-point plan as the start of a much broader push for peace in the region.
Rubio echoed that sentiment while discussing the important role Egypt will play in the plan’s implementation.
“They hosted the talks here, and they’re going to play a very important role now in the follow-up, the implementation of this, which is … not simply about restoring Gaza,” he said. “It is about transforming the region.”
Rubio’s comments flick at the behind-the-scenes discussions taking place on expanding on the Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between several Arab countries and Israel, and potentially forging a new nuclear deal with Iran.The bodies of two hostages have been released by Hamas in coffins to the Red Cross in Gaza, according to the Israeli military and the Israeli Security Agency.
In a post on Facebook shortly after the US leader arrived in Egypt, Sisi said that, at the upcoming peace summit held in Sharm El Sheikh, the “populations’ will is tied with the world leaders’ determination to ending the war in Gaza.”
“They all carry a single message to mankind: Enough with war … welcome to peace,” he said
Released hostage Matan Angrest was reunited with more family members at the Ichilov Medical Center in Tel Aviv on Monday afternoon.
A photograph of the reunion released by the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office shows Angrest embracing two young boys, one of whom is sporting an impressive hair art depicting Angrest’s face on the back of his head.
President Donald Trump has landed in Sharm El Sheikh, where more than 20 world leaders are holding a summit on Gaza’s future in the Egyptian Red Sea resort city long known for hosting sensitive diplomatic negotiations and peace summits.
Nestled between the mountains of southern Sinai, the self-branded “City of Peace” is popular for its year-round sunshine, world-class scuba diving sites and vibrant marine life. It has also been a venue for high level talks, particularly between Israeli and Palestinian leaders, often with US involvement.
The city rose to prominence as a venue for diplomacy under former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted in 2011. Its main highway, Peace Road, leads to Peace Square, where a monument dedicated to peace symbolizing the role the city once served as a regional hub for peace talks.
In 1996, former US President Bill Clinton co-chaired the Peacemakers Summit in Sharm, as the city is known, bringing together top Israeli and Palestinian officials. And in 1999, the city hosted Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and then Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat.
And in 2005, a summit was held there between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, where the Second Palestinian Intifada’s was declared over.
Israel occupied the Sinai Peninsula, including Sharm, after the Six-Day War in 1967 and returned it to Egypt in 1982, following a historic peace agreement between the two countries.
We are getting more photos taken during the first moments after the freed hostages were reunited with their families earlier today.
Several of the men who were released from Gaza today have children these pictures, released by the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, show them reuniting.
Two of the photos show Omri Miran playing with his children at Ichilov Hospital. The reunited family is seen in a playroom, wearing matching t-shirts and tossing around colourful foam cubes.
US President Donald Trump has arrived in the Egyptian resort city Sharm el-Sheikh, where he’ll preside over a deal signing ceremony that’s drawn a host of fellow world leaders.
Air Force One was escorted into the area by Egyptian fighter jets, as you can see in the footage above.
As we’ve been reporting, Sharm el-Sheikh is also where representatives from Israel, Hamas and the United States met last week to finalize the Gaza ceasefire deal.
The Red Cross is on its way to a meeting point in southern Gaza, where “several coffins of deceased hostages” will be transferred into their custody by Hamas, according to a joint statement from the Israeli military and Shin Bet security agency.
Earlier, Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades released the names of four deceased hostages whose bodies it says will be handed over. They are: Daniel Peretz, Yossi Sharabi, Guy Illouz and Bipin Joshi.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said earlier that it learned only four bodies would be released on Monday, out of 28 deceased hostages still in Gaza. It is unclear when the rest will be returned.
Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, has released the names of four deceased hostages whose bodies it says will be handed over on Monday.
Guy Illouz, who was 26 when he was kidnapped from the Nova music festival. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum announced his death in December 2023.
Bipin Joshi, an agriculture student from Nepal, was working on a farm in kibbutz Alumim when he was kidnapped. He was 22 at the time. It is unclear when Joshi died.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said earlier that it learned only four bodies would be released on Monday, out of 28 deceased hostages still in Gaza. It is unclear when the rest will be returned.
Under the agreement brokered by the US, Hamas and its allies were meant to release all of the remaining hostages, alive and dead, within 72 hours of the ceasefire being announced.
However, CNN reported last week that Israel assessed that Hamas may not be able to find and return all the remaining dead hostages in Gaza.
israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Monday that the announcement that only four bodies would be returned constitutes “a failure to uphold commitments.”
“Any delay or intentional avoidance will be considered a blatant violation of the agreement and will be responded to accordingly,” he said in a statement.
The hostage families “were shocked and dismayed” by the news that only four bodies would be released, the forum said in a statement.
The forum called for the implementation of the agreement to be suspended until after all of the bodies are back in Israel. All of the Palestinian prisoners and detainees scheduled for release from Israeli jails today, as part of the deal that also released the hostages in Gaza, have now been freed.
More than 1,700 were detainees who had been held without charge after being detained by Israeli forces in Gaza over the past two years.As of late Monday, nearly 40 buses carrying the detainees were making slow progress through large crowds at the Nasser medical complex in southern Gaza.
Some 250 long-term Palestinian prisoners convicted by Israeli courts were released into the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza, or deported to Egypt.
As the 20 living hostages were released from Gaza today, a number of global leaders have welcomed the news. Many described feelings of relief and joy, though a majority also highlighted the importance of continuing to work towards peace in the region.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that the release of the hostages is a “moment of profound relief,” extending his country’s gratitude to those who helped secure it, including US President Donald Trump. Today’s events “must be a turning point toward lasting peace,” Carney said.
The efforts towards peace in the region bring “hope for peace in other regions where life is still under threat,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on X. “In Ukraine, we welcome all the efforts that have led to today’s outcome for the Middle East,” adding that “we are working so that the day of peace comes for Ukraine as well.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer wrote on X that he felt “deep relief” at the release of the hostages, adding that it was a “stark reminder” of their treatment by Hamas and the “atrocities” of the militant group’s October 7 attacks. “It is now crucial that we work together to implement President Trump’s peace plan for Gaza,” he said.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron said on X that he shared “the joy” of the families of the hostages and the Israeli people, adding that “France will be involved in every stage of President Trump’s plan, alongside the Arab partners it helped mobilize.”
“President (Trump) has done it again!” Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on the social media platform, calling the hostage release a “tremendous achievement.” The US leader “made it happen” Orbán said, adding that, if certain conditions are met, he can “get it done in Ukraine as well.”
The leaders of countries including Austria, Colombia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Moldova, the Netherlands and Sweden also welcomed today’s events
Let’s bring you more now on the interruption to US President Donald Trump’s speech at Israel’s Knesset earlier today
Ayman Odeh, one of two Israeli lawmakers who were removed while Trump was speaking earlier, has posted a photograph of the sign he held up that caused his removal.
In a post on X, Odeh said that he was removed from the plenum “only because I raised the most simple demand that all the international community agrees with: to recognize a Palestinian state, to recognize the simple reality: there are two peoples here and no one is going anywhere.”
For context: Holding up signs inside the Knesset plenum is against the parliament’s rules, according to the Knesset Rules of Procedure.
“A Member of the Knesset shall not exhibit any object in the Knesset plenum, and shall not make use of an object or caption for the purpose of expressing his position,” the regulations outline.Egypt wants American troops to be deployed in Gaza to support the peacekeeping effort there, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said.
“We need American boots on the ground. Troops… that’s very important,” he told CNN ahead of a summit on the ceasefire deal Gaza that US President Donald Trump will co-chair., adding that the soldiers should “participate with… training, command and control.”
Asked if Egypt is calling for the troops to be stationed inside Gaza, the foreign minister said, “Yes, why not? That’s very important.”
US Vice President JD Vance said last week that Washington is not planning to station troops in Israel or Gaza.
The US president will co-chair a summit on Gaza in the Egyptian Red Sea city of Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday, where 34 countries will be represented, with 26 leaders present, the foreign minister said.
Trump’s “involvement is the most important element to guarantee the implementation” of the ceasefire agreement, he added. “There will be a document which will be signed by the guarantors, the mediators, and it will be a very important document to assure the end of this war.”
A conference to fund the rebuilding of Gaza is set to be held in Egypt next month, Abdelatty said.
Remember: Hamas and Israel accepted a 20-point plan presented by Trump last week to end the war in Gaza, where an international stabilization force (ISF) is set to be formed with several other countries. The format and makeup of that force remains unclear, but the minister said the ISF should get a mandate from the United Nations Security Council to “not be perceived as an occupying power.”
Abdelatty said a technocratic committee of fifteen Palestinians has been selected to govern Gaza.We’ve been bringing you pictures and footage showing the moment hostages have been freed from captivity to be reunited with their families.
Twin brothers Ziv and Gali Berman traveled to the hospital in an Israeli Air Force helicopter after they were reunited earlier today following their release. The brothers were believed to have been separated over the more than two years spent in Gaza.
The brothers were kidnapped from their home in kibbutz Kfar-Aza during the October 7 terror attack. They were 26 at the time and have since turned 28.
Flying over the skies of Israel, the Berman twins held hand-written signs reading “Thank you for everything” and “The People of Israel Live!”
The pair wore matching Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer jerseys as the helicopter flew over their team’s stadium, where Israelis waved yellow flags and held up signs in support of the released hostages.