All 20 surviving Israeli hostages held by Hamas for more than two years were released Monday, marking the start of the first phase of President Donald Trump’s U.S.-brokered peace plan, as The Dallas Express previously reported.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) posted an update to X on Monday morning, saying: “Today, after seven hundred and thirty-eight days, the last 20 living hostages have come home. This is a defining moment. A moment that belongs to the people of Israel and to all those who believe in humanity.”
The release marks the launch of “Phase One” in Trump’s multi-step “New Middle East Peace Accord,” announced earlier this month.
The IDF also urged the public to act responsibly and with sensitivity, and to respect the privacy of the returning hostages.
This breakthrough followed Trump’s recent announcement that Israel and Hamas had agreed to the first phase of his peace plan earlier this month. Negotiated through intermediaries in Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey, the deal secured the release of 48 hostages, 20 living and 28 deceased, in exchange for a 24-hour ceasefire, a limited Israeli troop pullback to secure lines in Gaza, and the release of roughly 1,900 Palestinian prisoners.
Top Hamas commanders and those involved in the 2023 terrorist attacks were reportedly excluded from the release agreement.
Trump celebrated the releases during a speech addressing Israel’s Knesset, saying this was a “Golden Age” for the Middle East.
“Generations from now, this will be remembered as the moment that everything began to change. … Like the USA right now, it will be the GOLDEN AGE of Israel and the Golden Age of the Middle East,” Trump declared.
“This is not only the End of a war – it is the END of an age of terror and death, and the BEGINNING of the age of faith, hope, and of God… This is the historic dawn of a new Middle East,” the president added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a close ally of Trump, praised the agreement as a “diplomatic success.”
“With the approval of the first phase of the plan, all our hostages will be brought home. This is a diplomatic success and a national and moral victory for the State of Israel. From the beginning, I made it clear: we will not rest until all our hostages return and all our goals are achieved,” Netanyahu said via social media.
Still, some complications have emerged.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum (HMFF) says only four of the 28 bodies of deceased hostages were returned on Monday, calling Hamas’ limited compliance a “blatant breach” of the agreement. The group is now pressing Israel and other mediators to demand full delivery of the remaining 24 bodies.
BringThemHomeNow, the official social media account of the HMFF, posted an announcement to X saying, “Hamas’s violation of the agreement must be met with a very serious response from the government and the mediators. An agreement must be honored by both sides. If Hamas does not fulfill its part, Israel should not fulfill its part either. We demand all 28 hostages back. We will not give up on anyone, until the last hostage is returned.”
Hamas confirmed its part in the exchange but has not yet said whether it would meet other terms, such as disarming its “militant” presence — a crucial part of Trump’s peace plan, Fox News reported. How Gaza will be governed going forward remains unclear, and for now, the IDF is allegedly maintaining control in several “dangerous combat zones” across the Strip.
The entire situation is still very fragile. A past truce earlier this year unraveled when Hamas declined to release more hostages, resulting in Israeli airstrikes.
However, despite past criticism from a U.N. commission, Trump’s peace plan has now produced its first substantial results with the release of 20 living hostages and four deceased hostages as of early Monday morning.