President Donald Trump speaks to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Ben Gurion Airport before flying to Sharm el-Sheikh © 2025 Getty Images

US President Donald Trump has insisted there is momentum towards a “lasting peace” in the Middle East following the release of the final 20 living Israeli hostages from Gaza and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israel’s jails.

Trump received multiple standing ovations during a speech in the Knesset, in which he said the Gaza peace deal he brokered marked “not only the end of war” but “the start of a grand concord and lasting harmony” between Israel and its neighbours.

Later he participated in a “peace summit” hosted by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Sharm el-Sheikh and also attended by leaders from Europe and the Middle East.

Trump, the presidents of Egypt and Turkey and the Emir of Qatar signed a text about the Gaza peace deal.

Trump said there was momentum “towards a great, glorious and lasting peace” in the Middle East and suggested he would stay the course to see his 20-point Gaza peace plan implemented in full, beyond the initial ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

The office of Benjamin Netanyahu said that the Israeli prime minister would not go to the summit.

The Israeli military said on Monday that Hamas had released the final 13 living hostages after handing over seven others earlier in the day to the Red Cross at a location in Gaza.

Israeli authorities later confirmed they had released 1,968 Palestinian prisoners from jail as part of the Gaza ceasefire arrangements.

The exchange, the first phase of Trump’s peace plan unveiled this month following repeated failed attempts to end the fighting, is also due to include the return of the bodies of 28 dead hostages.

If completed, it would mark a big but not conclusive step towards ending the deadliest chapter in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israeli defence minister Israel Katz accused Hamas of failing to meet its commitments under the peace plan by announcing it would only return four bodies of deceased hostages on Monday.

The Gaza war was triggered by Hamas’s October 7 2023 attack on Israel and has since claimed the lives of nearly 68,000 Palestinians and nearly 2,000 Israelis.

But Israel and Hamas have yet to agree to the second phase of Trump’s plan, which is designed to bring about a permanent end to the fighting.