Courtesy of JNS. Photo credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images
President-elect Donald Trump speaks at a victory rally at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 19, 2025
(JNS) — U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday hailed Israel’s ceasefire agreement with the Hamas terrorist organization as a “first step toward lasting peace in the Middle East.”
Speaking at a rally just hours before being inaugurated as the 47th president of the United States, Trump called the agreement “epic.”
“This week, we achieved an epic ceasefire agreement as a first step toward lasting peace in the Middle East. And this agreement could only have happened as a result of our historic victory in November,” he told attendees at the Capitol One Arena in Washington, D.C. “I’m glad to report that the first hostages have just been released,” he added.
“Our incoming administration has achieved all of this in the Middle East in less than three months without being president. We’ve achieved more without being president than they’ve achieved in four years with being president,” he continued, thanking incoming Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff.
“He’s an amazing guy. I said: I got to get myself a negotiator. We have to get a good negotiator. A lot of guys are knowledgeable, but they can’t negotiate. They don’t have the personality or whatever,” said Trump. “And Steve does, and Steve’s a great negotiator, very successful guy, but he’s our new special envoy to the Middle East for helping reach this great breakthrough, and really couldn’t have been done without Steve.”
The Jewish state signaled its support for the deal — which calls for the release of thousands of terrorists and an Israel Defense Forces withdrawal from strategic areas — after being pressured by Witkoff, according to widespread Hebrew media reports earlier this month.
Released Israeli hostages Emily Damari, Doron Steinbrecher and Romi Gonen were reunited with their families at Sheba Tel Hashomer Medical Center in Ramat Gan on Sunday night after 471 days in Hamas captivity.
The three women were the first of the 33 captives expected to be freed during the first phase of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas that went into effect earlier in the day. They were handed over to Israeli forces by a team of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza.
Earlier on Sunday, Trump welcomed the imminent release of the first three “wonderful young women” under the Gaza ceasefire agreement.
Over the weekend, the president-elect warned in an interview with NBC that the truce with Hamas “better hold,” or “all hell will break out.”
Trump said he had told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “Just keep doing what you have to do. You have to have — this has to end. We want it to end, but to keep doing what has to be done.”
Trump, who will be sworn in as president at noon Eastern Time on Monday, said he would meet with the Israeli leader “fairly shortly.”
The next group of Israeli hostages is set to be released by Hamas on Saturday, a senior official inside the terror group told AFP on Sunday.
Jerusalem has said that 25 of the 33 people on the list of hostages to be returned in the first stage of the deal are still alive. Ninety-four hostages are still held in Gaza, at least one-third of whom are believed to be dead.
