US President Donald Trump, along with several regional leaders, signed a document on the Gaza ceasefire deal during a summit in Egypt, hailing the release of Israeli captives, as Hamas condemned the “harshest forms of sadism and fascism” endured by Palestinians freed from Israeli jails.
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also signed the document on Monday in the Red Sea city of Sharm el-Sheikh.
"This took 3,000 years to get to this point. Can you believe it? And it's going to hold up too. It's going to hold up,” Trump said in the middle of signing the document.
“This is the day that people around the region and across the world have been working, striving, hoping, and praying for,” the US president said.
“Nobody thought this could happen,” Trump said, describing the Gaza ceasefire agreement as “historic.”
Trump continued his speech, saying that “after years of suffering and bloodshed, the war in Gaza is over."
“Humanitarian aid is now pouring in, including hundreds of truckloads of food, medical equipment and other supplies, much of it paid by people in this room," he said.
Trump also extended his “tremendous gratitude to the Arab and Muslim nations who helped make this incredible breakthrough possible.”
The Egyptian president also extended his thanks to Trump, as well as the leaders of Qatar and Turkey. The Egyptian president then reiterated his support for the Gaza plan with the hope of creating a political horizon for the implementation of the so-called two-state solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The signing ceremony came after Hamas returned the 20 remaining living captives in Gaza under phase one of the US-brokered deal. It also handed over four coffins with the remains of dead captives. Israel also released 250 Palestinian prisoners and more than 1,700 detainees from Gaza, who had been held without charge.
In a statement on Monday, Hamas said “the liberation of prisoners is a national achievement and a shining milestone in our struggle.”
“Our freed prisoners revealed the most horrific forms of psychological and physical torture they were subjected to over two years in a scene that embodies the harshest forms of sadism and fascism in the modern era,” it said.
The Palestinian resistance group called on human rights and humanitarian organizations to take action regarding Israel’s “systematic crimes against prisoners.”
Trump announced on October 8 that Israel and Hamas had agreed to the first phase of his plan for a ceasefire and prisoner swap.
The deal followed four days of indirect talks between the two sides in Sharm el-Sheikh, with delegations from Turkey, Egypt, and Qatar, under US supervision.
Phase two of the agreement envisions a new governing framework in Gaza, a security force composed of Palestinians and troops from Arab and Muslim countries, and foreign-funded reconstruction led by Arab states.
Since October 2023, Israeli attacks have killed more than 67,800 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them women and children, leaving the enclave largely uninhabitable.
