US President Donald Trump has arrived in Egypt after hailing the “historic dawn of a new Middle East” following the release of 20 Israeli hostages in Gaza.
Trump received multiple standing ovations during a speech in the Knesset, in which he said the ceasefire deal marked “not only the end of war” but “the start of a grand concord and lasting harmony” between Israel and its neighbours.
Later in the day Israeli authorities confirmed they had released 1,968 Palestinian prisoners from jail as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal.
Next on the US president’s itinerary is a “peace summit” in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, that will be attended by leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority.
The office of Benjamin Netanyahu said that the Israeli prime minister would not be travelling to the summit, despite an earlier statement to the contrary by the Egyptian government.
The Israeli military said on Monday that Hamas had released the final 13 living hostages after handing over seven others earlier in the day to the Red Cross at a location in Gaza.
The exchange, the first stage of a plan put forward this month by Trump following months of failed attempts to end the fighting, is also due to include the return of the bodies of 28 dead hostages.
If completed, it would mark a big — but not conclusive — step towards ending the deadliest chapter in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The conflict was triggered by Hamas’s October 7 2023 attack on Israel and has since claimed the lives of nearly 68,000 Palestinians and nearly 2,000 Israelis.
But Israel and Hamas have yet to agree to the second phase of Trump’s plan, which is designed to bring about a permanent end to the fighting.
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