Trump hints at 'action' if Hamas doesn't return hostage bodies
The bodies of 13 deceased hostages are believed to still be in Gaza.
U.S. officials -- including Vice President JD Vance, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner -- traveled to Israel this week for high-level meetings, discussing the next steps in the delicate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Israel has accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire deal by withholding the bodies of the remaining 13 deceased hostages thought to have died during or after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023. Hamas has said the return of the remaining bodies "may take some time" due to the destruction.
Key Headlines
- Egyptian resources deployed in Gaza to help locate, recover Israeli hostage remains
- Netanyahu says Israel, not US, will decide security policy
- Trump hints at 'action' if Hamas doesn't return hostage bodies 'quickly’
- Rubio says West Bank annexation would 'threaten this whole process'
- Aid allowed into Gaza is still falling short of what is needed, WHO head says
Trump: 'We have done the impossible'
As President Donald Trump ended his one-hour-long speech to Israel’s Knesset on Monday, he said, “We have built industries together, we have made discoveries together, we have confronted evil together, we have waged war together, and perhaps most beautifully of all, we have made peace together.”
“And this week, against all odds, we have done the impossible, and brought our hostages home,” he said.
Trump’s address was met with frequent applause and standing ovations.
Trump will next travel to Egypt where he and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi are co-chairing an international peace summit.
Trump: 'Time to translate these victories' into peace in Middle East
President Donald Trump said his speech to Israel’s Knesset on Monday, “Israel has won all that can be won by force of arms. Now, it is time to translate these victories … into the ultimate prize of peace and prosperity for the entire Middle East.”
“People are dancing in the streets, not just in Israel,” Trump said.
“This long and difficult war has now ended,” Trump said, though only the first phase of a ceasefire agreement has been brokered.
Trump’s remarks were met with frequent applause and standing ovations.
Trump will next travel to Egypt where he and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi are co-chairing an international peace summit.
2 parliamentarians interrupt Trump's speech
Ayman Udah, an Arab-Israeli from Israel’s Hadash party, and his colleague, Ofer Kassif, a Jewish Israeli, interrupted President Donald Trump’s speech to the Knesset and were ejected from the parliament.
They raised a both raised signs, one of which was said to have read "genocide." At least one of the signs also appeared to say "Recognize Palestine."
Trump’s remarks were otherwise met with frequent applause and standing ovations.
Trump: 'Historic dawn of a new Middle East'
President Donald Trump said in his address to the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, "This is not only the end of a war, this is the end of an age and terror and death."
"This is the historic dawn of a new Middle East. … Generations from now, this will be remembered as the moment that everything began to change," he said.
Trump’s remarks were met with frequent applause and standing ovations, as well as a brief interruption by someone in the crowd.
At the Knesset for Trump's speech was his daughter Ivanka Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, the latter having been involved in negotiations, as well as White House special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.
Many in the audience wore MAGA-style hats that read "Trump The Peace President."