Trump called his trip “a unique event.” On Wednesday evening, the US president announced that Israel and Hamas had agreed to the first phase of his 20-point peace plan for the Gaza Strip. On Friday, the fighting was suspended. The American leader emphasized before flying to Israel that “the war is over.”
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— Everyone cheers at once. This has never happened before. This is the first time. “Everyone is amazed and excited,” Trump said. His visit to Israel and Egypt begins before Hamas's scheduled release of Israeli hostages on Monday.
“The war is over, okay?”
He repeated these words on board Air Force One. During the flight to Israel, he announced that the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip meant the final end of the war, and the ceasefire would certainly hold. He also added that he would like to visit the Gaza Strip and said that Hamas had been allowed to “fight crime.”
Trump thus responded to a question about the discrepancy between American assurances that the ceasefire in Gaza means the end of the war and the more restrained statements of the Israeli prime minister, who did not describe the situation in this way. —The war is over. The war is over, okay? You understand that,” Trump said during a conversation with reporters aboard the presidential plane. He added that he believed that the ceasefire would last because, among other things, because everyone is exhausted from the conflict. He also stated that the International Stabilization Force provided for in his peace plan, which is to maintain order in the Gaza Strip, will in principle not be needed because “everyone will behave well.”
— It will be good for the surrounding countries, Arab, Muslim, everyone. Everyone will be happy. And I think it will stay that way, he said.
Trump on relations with Netanyahu: there were moments of sharp disagreement
Trump admitted that there were several heated arguments between him and the Israeli prime minister, but ultimately Benjamin Netanyahu was “always the right guy at the right time.”
The US president downplayed reports that Hamas is arming itself again, is now trying to transform itself into a police formation in the Gaza Strip and is engaging in fighting with its Palestinian opponents. In fact, the US president stated that Hamas received permission from the US to do so. “They talked about it openly and we gave them permission to do it for a while (…) we tell them to make sure there is no high crime and the problems that occur when areas like these have literally been demolished,” he said.
When asked if he planned to visit the Gaza Strip, Trump said he would like to at least set foot in its territory. He admitted, however, that a lot of time would be needed to implement his plan to create a “Middle Eastern Riviera” in the territory.
— You have to take care of the people first. But it will start for real, almost immediately. They will have to start by removing many structures (…) It's like a demolition site, almost all of it, so we have to get rid of what's there, he said.
Donald Trump flies to the Middle East
The US president flew to Israel on Sunday at 15 local time (9 p.m. Polish time).
Donald Trump is scheduled to arrive in Tel Aviv on Monday to address the Knesset. He then plans to travel to Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, to participate in what the White House calls the Middle East Peace Ceremony.
USA Today recalls that the United States, along with Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, brokered an agreement between Israel and Hamas after Trump presented a peace proposal together with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on September 29.
The ceasefire and the expected release of hostages by Hamas came more than two years after the conflict began. On October 7, 2023, Hamas militants launched an attack on Israel, killing approximately 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. Israel responded with a massive military offensive in the Gaza Strip that leveled large swathes of the enclave. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the conflict has displaced thousands of people. Over 67,000 people died. people. Most of them are civilians.
