Trump heads to Mideast to mark Gaza ceasefire, hostage release, urge Arab leaders to seek peace

President Donald Trump will travel to Israel and Egypt on Sunday to celebrate the U.S.-brokered ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas and urge Middle East allies to seize the opportunity to build lasting peace in the volatile region.

It is a fragile moment as Israel and Hamas are in the early stages of implementing the first phase of the Trump deal aimed at permanently ending the war sparked by the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas-led militants.

Trump believes there is a narrow window to reshape the Middle East and repair long-standing strained relations between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

It’s a moment, the Republican president says, that was aided by his administration’s support for Israel’s decimation of Iranian proxies, including Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The White House says momentum is also gaining momentum because Arab and Muslim states are showing renewed attention to resolving the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict and, in some cases, deepening relations with the United States.

“I think you’re going to have tremendous success and Gaza is going to be rebuilt,” Trump said Friday. “And there are some very rich countries, as you know, there. It would take a small fraction of their wealth to do that. And I think they want to do it.”

A tenuous point in the agreement

The first phase of the ceasefire agreement provides for the release of the last 48 hostages held by Hamas, around twenty of whom are believed to be alive; the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel; an increase in humanitarian aid to Gaza; and a partial withdrawal of Israeli forces from the main towns of Gaza.

Israeli troops completed their withdrawal from parts of Gaza on Friday, triggering a 72-hour countdown as part of Hamas’ deal to free Israeli hostages, potentially while Trump is on the ground. He said he expected their return to be completed by Monday or Tuesday.

Trump will first travel to Israel to meet hostage families and address the Knesset, or parliament, an honor last accorded to President George W. Bush during a visit in 2008. Vice President JD Vance said Sunday that Trump would also likely meet with newly freed hostages.

“Knock on wood, but we are confident that the hostages will be released and that this president will in fact travel to the Middle East, probably tonight, to meet and greet them in person,” Vance told CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

Trump next stops in Egypt, where he and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi will lead a summit in Sharm el-Sheikh with leaders of more than 20 countries on peace in Gaza and the broader Middle East.

It is a fragile truce and it is unclear whether the parties have reached an agreement on the post-war governance of Gaza, the reconstruction of the territory and Israel’s demand that Hamas disarm. Negotiations on these issues could fail, and Israel has hinted that it could resume military operations if its demands are not met.

“I think the chances of (Hamas) disarming, you know, are pretty close to zero,” HR McMaster, national security adviser during Trump’s first term, said at an event Thursday hosted by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He said he thought what was likely to happen in the coming months is that the Israeli military “is going to have to destroy them.”

Israel continues to rule millions of Palestinians without basic rights as settlements rapidly expand in the occupied West Bank. Despite growing international recognition, the creation of a Palestinian state seems extremely distant due to Israeli opposition and actions on the ground,

The war has left Israel isolated internationally and facing allegations of genocide, which it denies. International arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister are in effect, and the United Nations’ highest court is examining genocide allegations made by South Africa.

Hamas was militarily decimated and gave up its only bargaining chip with Israel by freeing the hostages. But the Islamic militant group is still intact and could eventually rebuild if there is a long period of calm.

Netanyahu reiterated that Israel would continue the demilitarization of Hamas after the return of the hostages.

“Hamas only accepted the deal when it felt the sword was on its neck – and it still is on its neck,” Netanyahu said Friday as Israel began withdrawing its troops.

Trump wants to extend the Abraham Accords

Much of Gaza has been reduced to rubble and reconstruction is expected to take years. The territory’s approximately 2 million inhabitants continue to struggle in desperate conditions.

As part of the deal, Israel agreed to reopen five border crossings, which will help ease the flow of food and other supplies into Gaza, parts of which are experiencing famine.

Trump is also establishing a U.S.-led civil-military coordination center in Israel to facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid as well as logistical and security assistance to Gaza.

Approximately 200 U.S. troops will help support and monitor the ceasefire agreement as part of a team that includes partner countries, non-governmental organizations and private sector actors. US troops will not be sent to Gaza, Admiral Brad Cooper, US military commander for the region, said in a social media post on Saturday.

The White House signaled that Trump was seeking to quickly refocus his attention on a first-term effort known as the Abraham Accords, which forged diplomatic and trade ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco.

A permanent deal in Gaza would help pave the way for Trump to begin negotiations with Saudi Arabia as well as Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country, to normalize ties with Israel, according to a senior Trump administration official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.

Such a deal with Saudi Arabia, the most powerful and richest Arab state, has the potential to reshape the region and strengthen Israel’s position in historic ways.

But negotiating such a deal remains a daunting task, as the kingdom has said it will not formally recognize Israel until a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

By AAMER MADHANI, JOSEPH KRAUSS and DARLENE SUPERVILLE