In his first interview since announcing earlier in the day the first phase of an agreement aimed at ending the war between Israel and Hamas, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the “world has come together around this deal.”
Calling it a “great honor” to participate in the deal that will see all of the hostages both living and dead returned from Gaza in the coming days, Trump thanked members of his administration, including Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, senior adviser Jared Kushner, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance, along with the U.S. military and its leadership.
“It’s been really an amazing period of time,” the president told Fox News host Sean Hannity. “So great for Israel. So great for Muslims, for the Arab countries, and so great for this country, the United States of America ... many years they talked about peace in the Middle East. This is more than Gaza. This is peace in the Middle East. It’s an incredible thing.”
Trump summarized his phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following his announcement of the agreement, saying that the premier told him, “I can’t believe it. Everybody’s liking me now.” According to Trump, the president responded: “More importantly, they’re loving Israel again.” Trump told Netanyahu that “Israel cannot fight the world,” telling Hannity that Netanyahu “understands that very well.”
Asked by Hannity about “security guarantees that Hamas can no longer be armed with weapons that they can fire into Israel,” Trump said that “I think you’re going to see that disappear. I think you’re going to see people getting along and you’ll see Gaza being rebuilt. We’re forming a council, the Council of Peace we think it’s going to be called, and it’s going to be very powerful.”
Trump said that the hostages would “probably” be released on Monday. Twenty are believed to be alive out of the 48 in Gaza.
