U. S President Donald Trump on Monday has declared that the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza is over now.
“I think it’s going to hold. People are tired of it — it’s been centuries,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. “The war is over. Okay? You understand that?”
Trump who personally presided over the negotiations, arrived in Israel on Monday to mark what he described as “a very special day for peace.”
He was received in Tel Aviv by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before heading for Jerusalem for meetings with families of freed hostages.
In Gaza, the ceasefire ended the war that was characterized by years of devastating airstrikes.
“I returned to Sheikh Radwan with my heart trembling,” said Fatima Salem, a 38-year-old Gaza resident. “My eyes kept searching for landmarks I had lost. Even the neighbours’ houses were gone. Despite the fear, I felt like I was coming back home.”
The humanitarian toll of the conflict has been immense.
Gaza’s health ministry said more than 67,000 people had been killed when the hostilities broke out on October 7, 2023 — figures the United Nations has described as credible.
Trump brokered the roadmap with Israeli forces expected to pull back to designated areas within Gaza, while a multinational peacekeeping mission, coordinated by a U.S.-led command centre, will oversee security and aid distribution.
Trump at about 2:30 pm local time left for Cairo, where he and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will co-host a summit of over 20 world leaders to ratify the ceasefire and outline the next phase of the peace plan.
President Emmanuel Macron, who is already in Egypt for the summit, said France will play a “special role” alongside the Palestinian Authority in governing Gaza.
“On governance issues, we will play a particularly important role,” Macron said from the tarmac in Sharm el-Sheikh. “Ensuring it (the PA) undertakes the necessary reforms for the future.”
“France is ready and has already begun planning work,” he added. “France will have a role in achieving lasting peace in Gaza.”
