All remaining Israeli hostages held by Hamas have been released under a ceasefire agreement brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump, marking an apparent end to the two-year conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group.
The Israeli military confirmed on Monday that the final batch of 20 hostages was handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Gaza before being transferred to Israeli forces.
Hamas first released seven hostages, followed by another thirteen later in the day. The freed individuals were reunited with their families and airlifted to hospitals for medical evaluation.
News of the release sparked emotional scenes in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, where relatives and supporters who had campaigned for months broke into tears and applause as confirmation of the final release filtered in.
The release followed a ceasefire agreement signed on October 9, outlining a phased process that includes the release of all hostages, partial withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, and the development of a long-term peace framework.
The truce, which took effect at midday Friday, has seen tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians begin returning to northern Gaza, an area heavily damaged during Israeli operations.
Under the deal, Israel also agreed to release about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners as part of the exchange.
President Trump, who personally supervised the negotiations, arrived in Israel on Monday, describing the moment as “a very special day for peace.”
“I think it’s going to hold. People are tired of it — it’s been centuries. The war is over,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One before landing in Tel Aviv, where he was received by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump later travelled to Jerusalem to meet with families of the freed hostages.
In Gaza, residents welcomed the ceasefire as a rare respite after years of airstrikes and destruction.
“I returned to Sheikh Radwan with my heart trembling,” said Fatima Salem, a 38-year-old Gaza resident. “Even the neighbours’ houses were gone. Despite the fear, I felt like I was coming back home.”
The Gaza Health Ministry estimates that more than 67,000 people have been killed since the conflict erupted in October 2023 — figures described by the United Nations as credible.
Under the U.S.-brokered peace roadmap, Israeli forces are 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 humanitarian operations.
President Trump is expected to travel to Cairo on Tuesday to co-chair a peace summit with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, alongside more than 20 world leaders, to ratify the ceasefire and outline the next phase of the peace plan.
French President Emmanuel Macron, already in Egypt for the summit, said France would play “a special role” in working with the Palestinian Authority (PA) to support governance and reconstruction in Gaza.
“On governance issues, France will play a particularly important role,” Macron told reporters in Sharm el-Sheikh. “We are ready and have begun planning to help achieve lasting peace in Gaza.”
