Trump: Gaza hostages should be released Monday or Tuesday – The Times of India

HOPE AGAIN: People celebrate the announcement of a deal between Israel and Hamas in Tel Aviv and (R) in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip

US President Trump said on Thursday that Gaza hostages should be released on Monday or Tuesday and that he hopes to attend a signing ceremony in Egypt and address Israel’s Knesset.Trump opened a Cabinet meeting at the White House by discussing an agreement reached Wednesday under which hostages held by Hamas militants will be released in the first phase of a broader Gaza plan. He said he believed this would lead to “lasting peace.” Trump said under the plan that Gaza will be “slowly renewed,” a reference to plans to rebuild the Palestinian enclave. He gave no details other than to say: “we are going to create something where people can live. You can’t live in Gaza now.”Hamas is expected to release the twenty surviving hostages together, 72 hours after the ceasefire takes effect. “We will get the hostages back Tuesday-Monday or Tuesday – and that will be a day of rejoicing,” Trump said.Trump said it may be difficult to immediately retrieve all the remains of hostages who have died in captivity, “because some of the bodies will be a little difficult to find.”He said he would try to make the trip there to attend a signing ceremony in Egypt. The White House has been scrambling to hammer out the details of the hastily arranged trip. Israel’s Knesset has asked Trump to speak, and the president said he planned to do so if asked.While questions remain about what happens in the region in the long term, Trump said he hoped it would lead to “an everlasting peace.”Meanwhile, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel said in an interview with Bloomberg TV that a ceasefire was in effect as of Thursday.Army troops will begin withdrawing from their positions within 24 hours of the start of the ceasefire, said an Israeli official, who asked not to be identified by name discussing sensitive matters. A Hamas source told AFP that the group will swap 20 living hostages simultaneously for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, with the swap taking place within 72 hours of the plan’s implementation.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would bring the hostages home “with God’s help,” and an official source added that the prime minister’s office would meet on Thursday to approve the deal.“Thank God for the ceasefire, the end of bloodshed and killings,” said Abdul Majeed Abd Rabbo in Khan Younis in southern Gaza. “I’m not the only one who is happy, the whole Gaza Strip is happy, the whole Arab people, the whole world is happy with the ceasefire.” Einav Zaugauker, whose son Matan is among the last hostages, rejoiced at Tel Aviv’s so-called Hostages Square, where families of those captured in the Hamas attack that sparked the war two years ago have long gathered. “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe, I can’t explain what I’m feeling… it’s crazy,” she said. Crowds of Israelis gathered in the square on Thursday afternoon to await the government’s announcement that it had ratified the deal.Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least three Palestinians were killed on Thursday.An Israeli government spokesman said the ceasefire would come into effect within 24 hours of the government meeting. After that 24-hour period, the hostages held in Gaza would be released within 72 hours. Twenty Israeli hostages are believed to be alive in Gaza, while 26 are presumed dead and the fate of two is unknown. Hamas has indicated that recovering the bodies of the dead could take longer.