Hamas began handing over the bodies of four deceased Israeli hostages on October 13, 2025, and two days later they handed over three more as part of a recent ceasefire agreement.
President Donald Trump helped make a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas by creating a peace plan that both sides agreed to. His plan also helped get Hamas to start handing over hostages to Israel as part of the deal.
“The skies are calm,“ President Donald Trump told the Knesset, “the guns are silent, the sirens are still and the sun rises on a Holy Land that is finally at peace.”
Hamas and Israel have been negotiating since Jan. 19 with some attacks from both sides since then.
Trump said at the summit that, “Now the rebuilding begins.”
According to CNN, Health officials in Gaza say that Israel has returned a total of 120 bodies of Palestinians that were held during the war, and some of them “show signs of abuse, beating, handcuffing and blindfolding.”
“I am happy for our sons who are being freed,” a Gaza woman, Um Ahmed told one of Reuters reporters, “but we are still in pain for all those who have been killed by the occupation, and all the destruction that happened to our Gaza.”
According to CNN, Hamas has handed over 20 hostages and says it has handed over all hostage remains they can access, saying, “significant efforts and special equipment,” are needed to recover the remaining dead captives in Gaza.
“I am so excited. I am full of happiness. It’s hard to imagine how I feel this moment. I didn’t sleep all night,” said Viki Cohen, mother of hostage Nimrod Cohen.
According to Reuters, Trump signed a document with Egypt, Qatar and Turkey’s leaders welcoming the agreements on Gaza and pledging to, “work collectively to implement and sustain this legacy.”
When asked by a BBC reporter if he believed the ceasefire would hold, Trump said it would because, “everybody is happy, and I think it’s going to stay that way.”
According to Reuters, The Israeli hostages freed on Monday were the last still alive in captivity from 251 seized in the Hamas-led attacks of Oct. 7, 2023 that killed 1,200 people and triggered the war.
According to ABC, Trump says that not only is the war over but he also says that it’s an end to an age of terror.
“I’m good at solving wars,” said Trump. ”I’m good at making peace,” said Trump.
According to BBC, On Saturday hundreds of thousands of Israelis attended a rally in Tel Aviv and chanted their gratitude to the US leader.
Trump said that, “if Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the Deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them.”