US President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he will soon travel to Cairo and Jerusalem ahead of a peace agreement ceremony marking the end of strikes on Gaza and the beginning of hostage releases by Hamas.
Speaking to reporters, Trump said he would meet “a lot of leaders from all over the world” who have been invited to Cairo for the event celebrating the new accord between Israel and Hamas, according to a Bloomberg report.
The president also plans to deliver an address before the Israeli Knesset to commemorate the deal, which is expected to formally end the two-year-long conflict that has devastated the region. Expressing confidence in the ceasefire, Trump remarked, “I think it will hold. They’re all tired of the fighting,” adding that the focus must now shift to rebuilding Gaza.
The agreement was finalized following weeks of negotiations led by the United States, Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey, which worked to refine the details of a 20-point peace framework Trump had announced earlier this month.
Trump said his visit to the region would be brief, noting that he must return to Washington by Tuesday to posthumously award conservative activist Charlie Kirk the Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
As part of the ceasefire’s implementation, Hamas is expected to release about 20 hostages captured during its October 7, 2023, assault on Israel, as well as return the remains of more than two dozen individuals who died while in captivity. In exchange, Israel will release nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, and humanitarian assistance to Gaza will resume.
Negotiations over Gaza’s reconstruction and political future are expected to continue in the coming weeks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the US and the European Union, must disarm and play no role in governing the territory. However, Hamas has not yet agreed to those terms.
