Israelis praise Trump at rally ahead of hostage release by Hamas in Gaza

Hundreds of thousands of people held a rally in Tel Aviv ahead of the expected release of Israeli hostages by Hamas.

Addressing the crowd, US special envoy Steve Witkoff said the hostages were “coming home” and praised Donald Trump for making the Gaza ceasefire and hostage return agreement possible.

Nearly 500,000 people have returned to devastated northern Gaza in the past two days following the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, Palestinian officials said.

Meanwhile, Egypt confirmed it would host a summit on Monday to reach an agreement aimed at ending the war.

The Egyptian presidential spokesman said that more than 20 leaders, including Trump, will attend the summit in Sharm el-Sheikh. French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer It has been confirmed that they will travel to Egypt on Monday.

Trump is expected to visit Israel on Monday before heading to Egypt. Daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner also spoke at the Tel Aviv rally on Saturday.

Under the ceasefire and hostage release agreement announced on Thursday, Hamas was given 72 hours, until 12:00 local time (09:00 GMT) on Monday, to release all 48 hostages it still holds after two years of war; 20 of them are assumed to be alive.

Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan told the AFP news agency that “according to the signed agreement, the prisoner exchange will begin on Monday morning as agreed and there are no new developments in this regard.”

He said Hamas militants on the ground had not yet informed the movement’s leadership about the logistics of the handover.

Aviv Havron, whose family members were killed and others were kidnapped in a Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, told the BBC in Tel Aviv: “It is very important for society that they return. Without this, we cannot restart our lives.”

“My sisters and two brothers-in-law were killed. Seven members of my family were kidnapped; my sister, her daughter and her grandchildren were kidnapped. Be’eri’s four bodies were [community] “Our members are still in Gaza.”

Shulamit and David Ginat, who also attended the Tel Aviv rally, told the BBC that all hostages should be rescued.

Shulamit said, “They are our brothers. We want to heal again. We want to stop the war, stop the pain, and heal again.” he said.

Many in the crowd chanted “Thanks Trump!” he shouted. – but Witkoff was also booed when he mentioned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Speaking immediately afterwards, the couple said that they were angry with him for not being able to prevent the October 7 attack, the war, and the hostages not being brought home sooner.

“He wants to continue the fight because he wants to remain prime minister,” David said.

According to local sources, Hamas has called in thousands of fighters to regain control of areas in Gaza recently evacuated by Israeli troops.

Hamas’ mobilization was widely expected due to growing uncertainty about who would rule Gaza once the war ended and fears of internal violence. Armed clashes between Hamas and Gaza groups were also reported.

Displaced Palestinians continued to move north into Gaza in large numbers, where in many cases they found their homes destroyed.

“There is no home anymore. Everything is gone,” said lawyer Mosa Aldous, speaking by phone from Gaza City.

Raja Salmi, 52, told AFP that when he reached the Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City, he saw that his house was also gone.

“I stood in front of him and cried. All those memories are now dust,” he said.

Under the terms of the ceasefire and hostage release agreement, the amount of aid entering Gaza will be increased, but the World Food Program (WFP) told the BBC that aid trucks had not entered Gaza “yet” and that only two to three trucks a day were entering the area.

WFP, a UN agency, said it aims to restore an orderly food distribution system by increasing aid through 145 distribution points across Gaza, with full access.

Cogat, the Israeli military body that oversees the entry of aid into Gaza, said 500 trucks entered Thursday, about 300 of which were distributed to Gaza by the UN and other organizations.

A recent UN-backed report by the world’s leading hunger watchdog, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), estimates that 500,000 people in Gaza, a quarter of the territory’s population, are suffering from famine.

Israel has repeatedly denied that there is famine in Gaza, and Netanyahu has said that where there is famine, it is the fault of aid agencies and Hamas.

In the attack carried out by Hamas in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, approximately 1,200 people died and 251 people were taken hostage.

Israel responded by launching a military offensive in Gaza that killed more than 67,000 Palestinians, according to the region’s Hamas-run health ministry.