President Donald Trump will attempt to seal the biggest diplomatic achievement of his second term when he travels to the Middle East to usher in a deal ending the war between Israel and Hamas and greet hostages emerging after two years of subjugation.
The fragile ceasefire represents a key test of Trump's deal-making abilities, one that would strengthen his goal of being remembered as a peacemaker if it lasts. The president's team is betting that his personal guarantees – and the watchful eye of the US military – can keep the pact together. Trump plans to stop in Israel and Egypt on Monday to celebrate the deal and plan next steps for a region shattered by violence.
Trump said on Sunday upon his departure to the Middle East that he is optimistic that the various parties will adhere to the deal.
“I don't think they want to disappoint me,” he told reporters on Air Force One. “I have a lot of verbal guarantees; guarantees that are not in writing, but that have been given to me and I believe they will be very strongly enforced. That's why I think it will be a success.”
Still, anything could go wrong in the coming days that could undermine the deal, making it just a short-lived lull in a conflict between Arabs and Jews in the Middle East that long predates Israel's founding 77 years ago. There are many ways the truce could deteriorate — and those risks are all the more reason for the Trump administration to remain involved, a U.S. official told reporters ahead of the trip.
If the deal holds, it would mark a major step toward a lasting peace that neither Trump nor his predecessor, Joe Biden, has yet been able to achieve, despite multiple negotiations following the outbreak of the war sparked by Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. It came as the president put pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Arab allies used to conduct shuttle diplomacy with Hamas, which is classified as a terrorist group by the US and European Union.
The return of hostages would deprive Hamas of a powerful bargaining chip it has used against Israel — but a chip that analysts say the group can now put to better use. Convincing Netanyahu to gradually withdraw from Gaza and give up ambitions to take control of the territory could stop the carnage there and give the Palestinians a chance to end their global isolation.
“The Trump administration has convinced both sides that continuing the war along its current trajectory is worse than implementing its framework,” Michael Herzog, a former Israeli ambassador to the US, said Friday during a virtual event hosted by the Washington Institute think tank. “However, it is clear that the big challenges lie ahead. There are big questions about the next phases.”
The whirlwind journey is vintage Trump: the chief dealmaker swoops in while the ink is not yet dry – and the fine print has not yet been sifted through. Still, the prospect of a deal alone is reason enough for the president to go abroad as he seeks to codify his legacy.
“I think it will hold. They're all tired of the fighting. Don't forget, you had October 7, which was a terrible day, when 1,200 people died, but Hamas lost 58,000 people. That's a big retaliation, that's a big retaliation,” Trump said on Friday, apparently referring to – and somewhat understating – the Palestinian death toll cited by the Hamas-led Health Ministry.
“But this is outside Gaza. This is peace in the Middle East, and it is a beautiful thing,” Trump added.
Trump will arrive in Israel on Monday, where he will meet with hostage families and address the Knesset before heading to Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. There he will host a peace summit with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, along with a host of Arab and European leaders, including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron.
The Abraham Accords were seen as the biggest foreign policy achievements of Trump's first term, which saw several Arab and Muslim countries normalize relations with Israel. Hamas launched its brutal attack across the border two years ago, amid speculation that one of the region's biggest powers, Saudi Arabia, was ready to join.
Ending the war could provide scope for resuming those talks.
Even more urgent, it would put an end to the killing in Gaza and allow the devastated area to begin rebuilding after Israel's attacks, which have caused a humanitarian disaster and killed thousands of civilians. The brutal nature of Israel's military campaign damaged relations with several traditional Western allies, who recognized a Palestinian state at the United Nations last month.
Ensuring that the deal lasts past the first phase, a hostage-for-prisoner exchange between Israel and the Palestinians, will not be easy. Important details are left hanging in the air.
The White House announced Friday that a 72-hour clock on the release of hostages had begun, giving Hamas the responsibility to hand over about 20 prisoners, believed to be alive, and the remains of others. The future phases of Trump's outline — including how Hamas will disarm, which countries will form a stabilization force to patrol Gaza and how quickly Israeli forces will withdraw and where — are undecided.
“Inevitably, there will be conflicts here. They will be issues on which the people of Gaza disagree with Israel, on which the Israelis disagree with the Gulf Arab states,” Vice President JD Vance said Sunday on CBS's Face the Nation. “We really see our role as mediating some of these disputes and ensuring that the pressure remains on everyone to achieve a lasting peace.”
The first question is how the president will ensure that Israel does not take up arms in Gaza once it has received the hostages. Netanyahu and members of his right-wing coalition have said it is imperative to destroy Hamas and that they cannot accept a future Palestinian state.
Trump “has, from what we understand, given assurances to Hamas that he will guarantee that Israel will not resume this war. And I think it's very unclear what those assurances will look like,” said Will Todman, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Trump sidestepped a question about guarantees on Friday, but acknowledged there was still work to be done. “There is consensus on most of it, and some of the details, like everything else, will be worked out,” he said.
The deal came together quickly this week, following talks that began in August about a possible small-scale prisoner exchange. They drew up a list of principles that would become Trump's eventual 20-point plan.
Top Trump envoy Steve Witkoff and the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, flew to Egypt and then Israel to seal the deal Wednesday in a series of marathon meetings.
Trump joined in at several points, with Witkoff or Kushner calling him and putting their iPhones on speaker to talk him in, U.S. officials said. Trump told his aides to make a deal, and that the end of the war should not simply return Gaza to what it was before.
Trump's personal involvement and the presence of close advisers were a vital signal of American commitment and crucial to convincing the other parties to join, the officials said.
Trump guaranteed that all parties would adhere to the deal, one of the officials said. This week's journey will double the promise. This includes the allocation of 200 American troops, some of them in Israel, to supervise the creation of an International Stabilization Force.
The US officials said Netanyahu trusts Trump will not do anything to endanger their security – and that they could therefore discuss “creative” solutions with Israel over the future of Gaza and reject requests from other countries that Israel does not agree to.
That dynamic reversed what one U.S. official called scenarios and stupidity that plagued previous peace talks.
Several Democrats praised Trump for his role in brokering a deal.
“I think he should get a lot of credit,” Sen. Mark Kelly, an Arizona Democrat, said on CNN's State of the Union on Sunday. “Now we have to see what happens next. My hope is that the Saudis and the Emiratis will step up and do what they said they would do, which is invest in the reconstruction of Gaza.”
Trump's trip follows the announcement of the latest Nobel Peace Prize, which Trump had lobbied vigorously for. Ultimately, this year's prize went to Venezuela's opposition leader. Should the Middle East deal hold up, Trump could have a strong argument to win it in the future.
With help from Josh Wingrove, Ros Krasny and María Paula Mijares Torres.
This article was generated from an automated feed from a news agency without any changes to the text.
