President Trump said the 20 live hostages will be released from Gaza early next week after Israel and Hamas agreed to the first phase of a peace plan.
Under the first part of the plan, Hamas will let go all hostages, both dead and alive, and Israel will withdraw its troops to a mutually agreed-on line.
“We ended the war in Gaza, and really, on a much bigger basis, created peace. And I think it’s going to be a lasting peace, hopefully an everlasting peace. Peace in the Middle East, we secured the release of all of the remaining hostages, and they should be released on Monday or Tuesday,” Mr. Trump said during a Cabinet meeting Thursday.
“Getting them is a complicated process. I’d rather not tell you what they have to do to get them. There are places you don’t want to be, but we are getting the hostages back on Monday or Tuesday, and that’ll be a day of joy,” he said.
Mr. Trump said he will try to go to Egypt for a signing ceremony of the peace deal.
He also said the remains of the 28 dead hostages will be brought back, but didn’t say when.
As for Gaza, it will be “slowly redone,” the president said.
“You have tremendous wealth in that part of the world by certain countries, and just a small part of that … will do wonders for Gaza,” he said. “And I think you’ll see some tremendous countries stepping up and putting up a lot of money and taking care of things. But there’s tremendous spirit.”
He offered rare praise for the media, saying outlets were “very fair” in their coverage of the peace deal.
“I won’t go fake news for this purpose, because they really were very fair today in all cases,” he said. “But they covered it very well. They covered it very fairly. Everybody loves it. Everybody — people that were never giving us a fair shake.”
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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