Trump envoys praise Netanyahu, IDF for Gaza deal

U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff on Friday credited the Israel Defense Forces and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for facilitating the ceasefire deal between his country and Hamas.

Kushner and Witkoff said this at a joint conference in Jerusalem with Netanyahu and Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, shortly after the Jewish state’s Cabinet voted in favor of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal that would return to Israel 20 living hostages taken to Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, and the bodies of about 30 others.

“Obviously, bringing the hostages home has been a priority for President Trump for a very, very long time and we’ve all worked very tirelessly to do that,” said Kushner, a former senior adviser to Trump who has been working on the agreement alongside Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East peace envoy.

“But I really want to say that this all would not have been possible without the bravery of the IDF and the soldiers, what they’ve accomplished not just in Gaza, but also what they’ve done in the theater over the last couple of years to eliminate Hezbollah in the north and really degrade them, which you were able to do in Iran and really set a big tone,” Kushner added.

Kushner said he wanted “to just give a very, very special thanks to Prime Minister Netanyahu, who did an incredible job with this, did a great job in the negotiations.” Turning to Netanyahu, he said: “You held your lines firm” and that Netanyahu and Trump “had a lot of alignment on what the end state should be.”

Witkoff imparted similar praise on Netanyahu, noting that the Israeli leader needed to determine “how tough to be with Hamas, when to be flexible, when not to be flexible.”

Witkoff added, “I think to myself all the time, I lost sleep over it. What would I have done in some of those circumstances? There were times that I thought we should be more flexible, or your country should be more flexible. But the truth is, as I look back, I don’t think we get to this place without Prime Minister Netanyahu.”

Netanyahu thanked Trump and Dermer, who worked with the U.S. negotiators, as well as Kusher and Witkoff, “and the courage of our soldiers who entered Gaza and the combined military and diplomatic pressure that isolated Hamas,” which “has brought us to this point.”

Trump announced on Thursday a ceasefire in Gaza, saying: “We are getting the hostages back on Tuesday.”

On Friday, Israel’s Kan public broadcaster published a document titled “Implementation Steps for President Trump’s for a comprehensive end of Gaza War,” which the television station said had been signed by U.S., Israeli and Hamas representatives.

The document’s content resembles the 20-point plan released by the White House last month. It said the hostages would be released within 72 hours of Trump’s announcement, and that the IDF would withdraw in the Gaza Strip from certain areas within 24 hours of it.

It also states that the flow of aid supplies to Gaza would be boosted after those 72 hours and that Israel would release Palestinian prisoners. Hamas reportedly has secured the release of hundreds of them, including Palestinians serving life sentences for murdering Israelis.

Calls for vigilance

Likud lawmaker Ariel Kallner told JNS, “This hostage deal is not contingent on Israel returning to the pre–Oct. 7 border with Gaza as Hamas had demanded, and that’s a major achievement for us. Until now, Hamas insisted that Israel’s full withdrawal to the Oct. 6 lines be a condition for releasing the hostages.

“This achievement would not have been possible without our soldiers—our heroes—those who lost their lives and those who were wounded; without the strength of our leadership; and without President Trump, who applied pressure not only on Israel, as the international community has done, but also on evil—on Qatar and on Hamas,” added Kallner.

“The price remains very high for us,” he continued. “We are releasing 250 murderers from prison to bring our citizens home. We’ll have to consider how to prevent such situations in the future. But in our war with Hamas, we have now reached a strategic turning point, because Hamas is about to lose its ‘nuclear weapon.’”

Still, Kallner cautioned against trusting Hamas to uphold its end of the agreement.

“We are still dealing with an enemy that has violated every international law and lacks any sense of humanity,” he said. “Two years after Oct. 7, the elimination of Hamas—as a military, civilian and organizational force—remains essential. Without that, there can be no security or stability.”

National Unity lawmaker Pnina Tamano-Shata told JNS that the agreement marked a “deeply emotional day” for the people of Israel, both in the country and throughout the Diaspora.

“A day when, after two long years since our brothers and sisters were cruelly taken from us in the horrific massacre, we can finally breathe a sigh of relief,” she said.

“Alongside the joy, there is also profound sorrow, as 28 of the 48 abductees are no longer alive,” she continued. “I sincerely hope we will succeed in bringing home all of the deceased as well—including those whose whereabouts Hamas claims it no longer knows. They must be given a proper burial and their families must have the closure they deserve to mourn with dignity.”

Tamano-Shata praised the international effort that led to the current agreement. “The return of the abductees is our supreme moral compass,” she said. “As a state committed to its citizens, we have a responsibility to pursue every possible deal, even when the price is as painful as releasing thousands of murderers with blood on their hands.”

She emphasized the need for continued vigilance.

“Together with the international force led by President Trump, we must ensure that the agreement is fully implemented and that Hamas is disarmed so it can no longer threaten the State of Israel,” she said.

“In the end, Hamas remains a murderous terrorist organization that slaughtered thousands of Israeli civilians in their homes and at celebrations,” Tamano-Shata added. “It violated the ceasefire before Oct. 7 and ignited the war on Oct. 7. We will never forgive this, and we will never forget.”

Likud Knesset member Tally Gotliv told JNS she “will not celebrate prematurely until I see the release of all our hostages. I do not trust Hamas.

“The only reason this agreement is being negotiated is because Qatar, Turkey, Egypt and other regional players, including Saudi Arabia, see economic incentives and have conveyed those interests to the United States,” said Gotliv.

She said sustained IDF operations inside Gaza City, a Hamas stronghold, have helped create domestic pressure in the Strip to push toward a deal to free all the hostages.

“While we have an obligation to bring every hostage home—and that is the precondition for everything—we are paying an extremely high price, and we must pay it because the hostages were kidnapped on the state’s watch. The state must return all its citizens,” she said.

She also warned decision-makers to remain vigilant. “I urge intelligence and military leaders to abandon any dream that peace has arrived and to remember that our cruel, murderous enemies—Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the various factions of the Muslim Brotherhood—do not merely seek to spread radical Islam. Above all, they aim to eliminate the Jewish-Zionist vision and ethos,” Gotliv said.