• All of the 20 remaining living hostages in Gaza have been freed from Hamas captivity and returned to Israel after two years of war. The bodies of 28 deceased hostages remain in Gaza but are meant to be returned by Hamas under the terms of the US-brokered ceasefire deal.
• As part of the agreement, the release of 250 Palestinian prisoners serving long and life sentences is now underway, as is the release of more than 1,700 Palestinian detainees from Gaza held by Israel without charge since the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023.
• US President Donald Trump is addressing Israel’s parliament now, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described him in his own speech as the “greatest friend” Israel has ever had. You can watch Trump’s remarks in the livestream above.
• Trump will head to Egypt later, where leaders from more than 20 countries will join a summit on Gaza’s future.
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There were tearful reunions in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Monday when Palestinian prisoners who had been serving long sentences in Israeli jails arrived in Ramallah.
Some of the prisoners had been in jail for two decades.
Live video showed some of them hugging their wives and families soon after stepping off buses that had brought them from Ofer prison.
We’re starting to get a few more photographs of the moments when families of the released hostages reunited with the returnees as they arrived at hospitals across Israel.
Only the closest family members were allowed to meet the freed hostages at the initial reception centre at the Re’im military facility.
As he usually does, US President Donald Trump is detouring widely from the speech he prepared to deliver to the Knesset in Israel.
A number of speakers before him made sure to note the teleprompter was working — a nod to his equipment malfunction at the United Nations last month — though it’s not clear how much Trump is reading from it.
So far, he’s veered into a discussion of his envoy Steve Witkoff’s work with Russia, his daughter Ivanka’s conversion to Judaism and a rebuttal of what he claimed was onetime rival Hillary Clinton’s inaccurate assertion he had a personality of war (“My personality actually is all about stopping wars,” he insisted).
Trump has returned to his prepared remarks after each tangent, but he was sure to note that his speech wasn’t the only lengthy one.
“You’ve kept me quite late between opposition leaders and Bibi’s brilliant but very long speech,” he said. “I thought I was going to run up here, make a speech and then head to Egypt. It didn’t work out, though.”
The bodies of 28 people – 27 of whom were abducted and taken to Gaza during the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023 – are still held in the enclave, according to the Israeli government.
They include only one woman, Inbar Hayman. She was kidnapped from the Nova music festival and the Hostages and Missing Families Forum announced in December 2023 that she had been killed by Hamas while in captivity.
At least 13 of the deceased hostages whose remains are still in Gaza were killed during the terror attacks on October 7, 2023 and their bodies then taken to the enclave.
Among them are several Israeli soldiers, including two who were dual US and Israeli citizens – Omer Maxim Neutra from Long Island, New York, and Itay Chen.
Neutra’s and Chen’s fathers met US President Donald Trump on Monday.
The body of Hadar Goldin, who was serving as an Israel Defense Forces soldier when he was killed in a battle in Gaza on August 1, 2014, has been held by Hamas for more than decade.
Four of the 28 are foreign nationals — two from Thailand, one from Nepal and one from Tanzania.
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President Trump speech interrupted by protester
00:46 • Source: CNN
President Trump speech interrupted by protester
00:46
The footage above, captured earlier, shows two members of Knesset being removed from the plenum during US President Donald Trump’s speech. The two members were holding a sign saying “Recognize Palestine,” according to a Knesset spokesman.
Arab lawmaker Ayman Odeh, head of the Hadash party, and Ofer Cassif, the only Jewish lawmaker in the Arab party, were removed as Trump was speaking.
The two held a sign that said, “Recognize Palestine.”Holding up signs inside the Knesset plenum is against Knesset rules.
As the two were escorted out of the room, other members of Knesset stood up and repeatedly chanted, “Trump! Trump!”
US President Donald Trump heaped praise on Steve Witkoff, quipping that he calls his special envoy “Henry Kissinger, who doesn’t leak.”
“Henry is a big leaker. He leaked,” Trump said of the former secretary of state and national security adviser under the Nixon and Ford administrations.
“Steve doesn’t leak. Steve just wants to get the job done. He wants to do what’s right,” Trump said in remarks at the Knesset.
Trump said “everybody loves him,” including, apparently, Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The US president recounted that a meeting between Putin and his special envoy, which Trump expected to 15 or 20 minutes, ended up stretching some five hours.
“I said, ‘What the hell were you talking about for five hours? And he says, ‘just a lot of interesting things,” Trump recalled, saying it was “a talent” to be able to speak with someone for that long.
“He’s a great negotiator, because he’s a great guy,” Trump said of Witkoff.
The US president also thanked other members of his team who were in the audience for the speech, including his son-in-law Jared Kushner, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
President Donald Trump is using the ceasefire agreement he helped broker to call for a new era in the Middle East, seeking to seize on a narrow window to transform the region.
Trump said dawn was breaking on “a region transformed” and that a “beautiful and much brighter future appears suddenly within your reach.”
“This is now a very exciting time for Israel and for the entire Middle East, because all across the Middle East, the forces of chaos, terror and ruin that have plagued the region for decades now stand weakened, isolated and totally defeated,” Trump said. “A new coalition of proud and responsible nations is emerging.”
Trump is eager to expand the Abraham Accords agreed during his administration that normalized diplomatic relations between Israel and its Arab neighbors.
In his speech, he is arguing the deal reached with Hamas should create a galvanizing moment to end regional enmities have have persisted for decades.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum has released two photos of US President Donald Trump meeting with representatives of the hostage families at the Knesset on Monday.
In one of the photographs, Ruby Chen and Ronen Neutra, whose sons Itay Chen and Omer Maxim Neutra were both killed on October 7, 2023 and whose bodies are still held in Gaza, are seen standing next to Trump.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum says it has learned that only four bodies of deceased hostages will be released on Monday.
The hostage families “were shocked and dismayed” by the news, the forum said in a statement. “This represents a blatant breach of the agreement by Hamas. We expect Israel’s government and the mediators to take immediate action to rectify this grave injustice.”
The bodies of 28 people – 27 of whom were abducted and taken to Gaza during the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023 – are still held in the enclave.
Under the ceasefire plan, Hamas agreed to release all of the bodies.
However, CNN previously reported that Israel believes Hamas may not be able to find and return all the remaining dead hostages in Gaza.
The Israeli government has not commented on the number of bodies expected to be released on Monday.
US President Donald Trump lightly jabbed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, delivering remarks at the Israeli Knesset.
“I want to express my gratitude to a man of exceptional courage and patriotism whose partnership did so much to make this momentous day possible,” Trump said. “You know, who I’m talking about there’s only one: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”
Trump asked Netanyahu to stand up as the Knesset broke out in loud claps.
“And he is not easy, I want to tell you. I want to tell you he’s not the easiest guy to deal with, but that’s what makes him great,” Trump said, as some laughter broke out.
US President Donald Trump is beginning his speech to the Knesset after listening to lengthy remarks from Israeli leaders.
“After two harrowing years in darkness and captivity, 20 courageous hostages are returning to the glorious embrace of their families, and it is glorious,” Trump began his speech.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid hailed President Donald Trump in remarks to the Knesset and said the US leader must be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize next year.
“When you were elected, you declared that you would be ‘the President of Peace.’ You have kept your word,” Lapid said alongside Trump. “The fact that you were not awarded the Nobel Peace Prize is a grave mistake by the committee – but they will have no choice, Mr. President. They will have to award it to you next year.”
Lapid said Trump had accomplished the “unimaginable,” but now Israel needs to “take responsibility” for next steps.
He added that Israel’s “neighbors must understand one more thing about us – we are not going anywhere,” saying, “The Middle East is our home. We are here to stay,” he said.
“We call upon all the nations of the Islamic world, on all our neighbors: Saudi Arabia, Syria, others: We are here to stay. We can do great things together. Come talk to us,” he continued.
“Mr. President, you are the one who can make it happen – as you did with the historic Abraham Accords,” Lapid told Trump. “You can be the one to bring the next wave of peace. The people of Israel support this. They want this. We are ready.”
He told the US president that he and his team, in Egypt later on Monday, could “forge a regional alliance that will change not only the Middle East – but the entire world.”
Lapid also denounced those “who demonstrated against Israel these past two years,” saying they “were deceived.”
Two hostages who are still in Gaza and whose status was previously described by Israeli authorities as uncertain are now presumed to be dead.
Bipin Joshi, an agriculture student from Nepal, was working on a farm in kibbutz Alumim when he was kidnapped. He was 22 at the time.
Tamir Nimrodi, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier, was kidnapped from his base near the Erez Crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip. He was 18 at the time.
The Israeli government said in the past that it had “grave concerns” about the fates of Joshi and Nimrodi, but unlike the 26 other people who are still in Gaza, the two men have never been officially declared deceased.
Joshi’s family said as recently as last week that they had “unwavering faith” that Joshi was alive, after seeing a newly found video of him alive in Gaza in November 2023.
But with the Israeli government saying on Monday that all of the living hostages have now been freed, Nimrodi and Joshi are officially presumed to be dead.
Some of the deceased hostages are expected to be returned to Israel on Monday. However, Israel has said that Hamas may not be able to find and return all the remaining dead hostages in Gaza. A joint task force will be set up to try and find the missing remains of dead hostages, the government said.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has just said that he is “committed to this peace” following the release of the living hostages held in Gaza, while speaking in his country’s Knesset.
Netanyahu thanked US President Donald Trump, who is set to give a speech in the parliament shortly, for his “pivotal leadership in putting forward a proposal that got the backing of almost the entire world.”
Trump’s ceasefire plan “brings all our hostages home,” “ends the war by achieving all our objectives,” and “opens the door to an historic expansion of peace in our region and beyond our region,” Netanyahu said.
“Mr. President, you are committed to this peace. I am committed to this peace. And together, Mr. President, we will achieve this peace,” the Israeli leader continued.
Netanyahu suggested that his country could forge “new peace treaties” with Arab and Muslim countries, both in the Middle East and beyond.
“Abraham’s children will work together to build a better future, a future that will unite civilization against barbarism, light against darkness, and hope against despair,” he said, adding that “no one wants peace more than the people of Israel.”
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Netanyahu thanks Trump for visiting on “emotional” day for Israel
00:26 • Source: CNN
Netanyahu thanks Trump for visiting on “emotional” day for Israel
00:26
As we’ve reported, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warmly thanked US President Donald Trump for visiting Israel on what he called an “emotional day” for the country.
Netanyahu paid tribute to the US president, saying he will be “remembered” by the Israeli people for his “crucial part in bringing back the remaining hostages” from Gaza.
You can watch that moment in the video above.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu opened his address to the Knesset in Hebrew by personally thanking US President Donald Trump and expressing excitement about the return of the final living hostages.
He then switched to English, thanking Trump again and listing some of the US administration’s politics that have benefitted Israel.
“This is your first visit to Israel since you recognized Jerusalem as our capital and moved the embassy here,” Netanyahu said. “Thank you for recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.”
“Thank you for standing up to the lies against Israel in the United Nations,” he claimed.
“Thank you for recognizing in your 2020 peace plan our rights in Judea and Samaria, the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people,” Netanyahu said, referring to the occupied West Bank.
“Thank you for withdrawing from the disastrous Iran nuclear deal,” Netanyahu added, also thanking Trump for “supporting” Israeli military operations again Iran.
“This is only a partial list, but it’s enough to affirm what I’ve said time and again – Donald Trump is the greatest friend that the State of Israel has ever had in the White House,” the Israeli prime minister told lawmakers
Matan Angrest and Keith Siegel were held hostage together in Gaza for more than two months before Siegel was released in February.
On Monday, the two were reunited by a video call after Angrest was freed.
Siegel, a US-Israeli dual citizen, told CNN after his release that he was deeply concerned for Angrest’s physical and mental wellbeing.
“It haunts me daily,” Siegel, a dual US-Israeli citizen, told CNN at that time. “Everything that they’re experiencing is very difficult for me to think about. I can’t get those thoughts out of my mind.”
Angrest, an Israeli soldier, was 20 when he was kidnapped to Gaza from Nahal Oz. He turned 22 while in captivity.
His family said he is a big fan of the soccer player Lionel Messi and dreams of going to the US to watch an NBA game.
They said he and his father had planned to get a matching tattoo of a lion before Matan was kidnapped and that his father has now gone and got it.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is speaking now in the Israeli Knesset, ahead of Trump’s address. He opened by thanking Trump.
We will bring you his full comments shortly.
Back to the Israeli parliament, where US President Donald Trump is expected to give a speech shortly.
The speaker of the Knesset, Amir Ohana, just gave a speech lauding the US leader, saying that there is “no one more deserving” of the Nobel Peace Prize than Trump, telling him that that Israel will nominate him for the award next year.
Ohana thanked Trump repeatedly for his support of Israel, including during the country’s 12-day war with Iran earlier this year, as well as his efforts in achieving the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
“Thousands of years from now, Mr. President, the Jewish people will remember you. We are a nation that remembers,” he said, noting that there is “not a single person on this planet who did more than you to advance peace.”
Speaker of the Knesset, Amir Ohana, called President Donald Trump “the best friend that Israel ever had in the White House” during remarks at a special session of Israel’s parliament.
“I had the special honor to bless together with you, the best friend of that Israel ever had in the White House. Welcome to Israel. Welcome to the Knesset, the President Donald J Trump,” Ohana said through a translator.
All of the remaining living hostages in Gaza have been freed from Hamas captivity and are back in Israel after two years of war. A group of 13 hostages has just been escorted across the border by the Israeli military, after a group of seven hostages was released earlier.
