Trump: The war in Gaza is over… The ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel will remain in place
US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that “the war in Gaza is over,” ahead of his trip to the Middle East to deliver a speech before the Israeli Knesset and participate in an international peace summit in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt.
“The war is over, okay? You understand that?” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One after takeoff from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, en route to Tel Aviv, his first stop.
He was responding to a reporter’s question about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s failure to acknowledge the end of the war in Gaza.
Trump added that he believes the ceasefire agreement will hold.
He continued: “There are many reasons why the agreement holds, but I think people are tired of it… It’s been centuries, not just recently, but centuries”.
Regarding the planned “Peace Council” to oversee the administration of Gaza, Trump said that “its formation will be swift,” but he is unsure whether former British Prime Minister Tony Blair will be included in its composition.
“First, I want to know if Tony will be a person that everyone will accept, because I simply don’t know,” the US president said.
Under Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan, the Gaza Strip will be subject to temporary transitional governance by a technocratic, non-political Palestinian committee responsible for managing daily public services and municipal affairs for Gaza’s residents.
The committee will consist of qualified Palestinians and international experts, under the supervision of a new international transitional body called the Peace Council, chaired by Trump and attended by other heads of state to be announced later, in addition to Tony Blair.
Regarding the reconstruction of Gaza, Trump said: “First, the people have to be taken care of… But the process will begin, literally, immediately… We’ll have to start by removing many of the structures that you see that have been flattened… They have been bombed so heavily that it looks like a demolition site”.
Trump will deliver a speech in the Israeli Knesset, before his plane takes off for the Egyptian city of Sharm el Sheikh to attend an international summit with the aim of ending the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.
On Thursday, Trump announced that Israel and Hamas had reached an agreement on the first phase of his ceasefire and prisoner exchange plan, following indirect negotiations between the two sides in Sharm el Sheikh, with the participation of Türkiye, Egypt, and Qatar, and under US supervision.
The first phase of the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel went into effect at 12:00 noon on Friday, Jerusalem time (09:00 GMT), after the Israeli government approved the agreement at dawn.
The agreement is based on a plan proposed by Trump, which calls for a ceasefire, a gradual withdrawal of the Israeli army, a mutual release of prisoners, the immediate entry of aid into the Gaza Strip, and the disarmament of Hamas.
