The China Mail - Trump to head to Middle East, says hostages to be freed early next week

Speaking at the White House on Thursday, Trump said the agreement between Israel and the Palestinian armed group had "ended the war in Gaza."

The US leader added that "nobody's going to be forced to leave" the Palestinian territory under his 20-point peace plan, which formed the basis for indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel in Egypt.

He said he hoped to travel to Israel, where he may address parliament, and maybe to Egypt.

"The hostages will be coming back Monday or Tuesday. I'll probably be there, I hope to be there," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, referring to hostages taken by Hamas during its October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

But Trump said that the bodies of some of the dead hostages would be "hard to find."

Hamas took 251 people hostage into Gaza, where 47 remain, including 25 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory campaign in Gaza has devastated the territory and killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.

- 'Disarming, pullbacks' -

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said earlier that he had invited his US counterpart to take part in a "celebration to be held in Egypt" for the agreement for the first phase of a ceasefire.

The Republican gave few details about the second phase of the peace deal and the future of Gaza.

During an earlier meeting of his cabinet, Trump said "there will be disarming, there will be pullbacks," in apparent reference to Israel's demand that Hamas disarm and calls by the Palestinian group for Israel to withdraw its forces, but did not elaborate.

He added that Gaza would be "slowly redone" and indicated that Arab states with "tremendous wealth" would help it rebuild, as well as possibly taking part in peacekeeping efforts.

- 'High degree of intensity' -

Trump, who in February proposed that the US take over Gaza, also rejected speculation that Palestinians could be forced out of the devastated enclave.

"Nobody's going to be forced to leave. No, it's just the opposite. This is a great plan," Trump said.

Trump, however, played down the question of whether he would achieve his long-held dream of winning the Nobel Peace Prize, whose laureate is announced on Friday.

"I don't know what they're going to do, really. But I know this, that nobody in history has solved eight wars in a period of nine months," he said in response to a question by an AFP reporter.

His cabinet officials lined up to praise him, led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who had on Wednesday handed the US president a note during an event saying a deal was imminent.

"Frankly, I don't know of any American president in the modern era that could have made this possible," Rubio said during the cabinet meeting.

Rubio also hinted at the tough negotiations that led to the agreement, which saw Trump pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and rally Arab and Muslim states to lean on Hamas.

"One day, perhaps the entire story will be told," Rubio said.

"The president had some extraordinary phone calls and meetings that required a high degree of intensity and commitment and made this happen."

L.Johnson--ThChM