Tens of thousands in Israel are bracing for a 24–48-hour emotional sprint: the expected return of most of the remaining 48 hostages and the first visit by President Donald Trump since reentering the White House. In her report for The Media Line, Maayan Hoffman maps the choreography—billboards in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv hailing the US president, security drills at Ben-Gurion, and a police operation scaled for a head-of-state landing and rolling convoys of freed captives. The White House timetable has the American president departing Washington Sunday night and touching down near Tel Aviv on Monday morning, before meetings at the Knesset and a regional stop in Sharm el-Sheikh.
The Friends of Zion Museum’s founder, Dr. Mike Evans, splashed “Cyrus the Great is alive” across the skyline and said, “President Trump is the greatest friend the State of Israel has ever had in the White House.” Israel Airports Authority warned travelers to arrive early and expect reroutes from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3, rail use instead of cars, and hours-long road closures. Police spokesperson Dean Elsdunne told The Media Line, “There’s going to be thousands of officers… The ultimate goal is a safe, secure, peaceful procession of the arrival of the state visit.”
Medical centers—Sheba, Tel Aviv Sourasky, and Rabin—are staging multidisciplinary teams and private reception rooms. “Each patient has different needs, and the most important thing is to let them heal,” said Rabin’s chief social worker, Keren Karina Schwartz. Protocols for the return of the fallen will route coffins to Abu Kabir for identification.
For the full schedule, what changes if hostage movements overlap the presidential landing, and how the mood from Hostages Square ripples nationwide, read Maayan Hoffman’s detailed piece at The Media Line.