Gaza ceasefire live: Trump to meet with Israeli hostages after their release by Hamas on Monday, says Vance | Gaza
Trump to meet with hostages, JD Vance confirms, as he says ‘we are on cusp of a sustainable Middle East peace’ Edward Helmore US vice-president JD Vance confirmed that Donald Trump would travel to the Middle East on Sunday to meet with Israeli hostages who will be released under the first phase of the Israel-Hamas…
Trump to meet with hostages, JD Vance confirms, as he says ‘we are on cusp of a sustainable Middle East peace’
Edward Helmore
US vice-president JD Vance confirmed that Donald Trump would travel to the Middle East on Sunday to meet with Israeli hostages who will be released under the first phase of the Israel-Hamas peace agreement. He added that the Middle East was now on the “cusp of a sustainable peace”.
“Knock on wood we feel very confident that hostages will be released, and that the president is actually traveling to the Middle East, likely this evening in order to meet them and greet them in person,” Vance told CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday.
Vance called the first step in the implementation of the 20-point peace agreement, “a big day for their families, but I think more importantly, it’s a big day for the entire world.”
He said the deal was “a very tall task” and Trump had “pursued a very non-traditional diplomacy with people who were not 40-year diplomats, but people who brought a fresh perspective to it.”
“We are now on the cusp of a sustainable peace in the Middle East,” Vance added.
But he warned that phase two of the agreement, which includes Hamas agreeing to hand over weapons and the administration of Gaza to a Palestinian body of independent technocrats, “is going to take consistent leverage and consistent pressure from the President of the United States on down”.
Vance was asked how long 200 US troops would remain in the area. “These are not troops who are going to be put in Gaza, but they’re troops who are already at Central Command (Al Udeid airbase in Qatar). They’ve been at that base for many, many years, and they’re going to help monitor and mediate this peace.”
But Vance said:
Inevitably, they’re going to be conflicts here. There are going to be things that the people in Gaza disagree with Israel about, and the Israelis disagree with the Gulf Arab states about.
We see our role really as mediating some of those disputes and the pressure stays on everybody to achieve a durable and lasting piece.
Vance predicted that Arab countries and Muslim-majority countries, including Indonesia, would provide troops to ensure Gaza’s security and that would “make it possible to rebuild, possible to dismantle terrorist networks and possible to ensure a lasting peace.”
The US, he said, “is going to continue to play our mediation role, and I think that’s a very, very good place for all of us to be.”
Key events
Iran says it was invited to the Gaza summit in Egypt but has not confirmed whether it will attend, according to state media.
Tehran confirmed on Sunday that it received an official invitation from Cairo to attend a Gaza summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, state media reported, without indicating whether a representative would attend.
At a cabinet meeting, foreign minister Abbas Araghchi briefed the government on Egypt’s invitation to president Masoud Pezeshkian, “Iran’s subsequent refusal, and a later invitation extended to the foreign minister,” IRNA state news agency reported, without disclosing whether Araghchi would attend.
Hamas’ government media office is rejecting a BBC report about the deployment of 7,000 new Hamas operatives to reassert its dominance in Gaza where the Israeli military has withdrawn from.
The Hamas statement says: “This information has no basis in truth.” It further says the claims “reflect deliberate misinformation and false narratives intended to mislead the public”.
According to the BBC report, Hamas mobilised its security forces via phone calls and texts, informing its operatives that they were required to “cleanse Gaza of outlaws and collaborators with Israel” and to report for duty within 24 hours.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said today that he hopes a similar agreement to the Israel-Hamas ceasefire can be orchestrated to put an end to the ongoing war between his own country and Russia.
“This is real success,” Zelenskyy said on Fox News. “It gives signals for us and hope that with such pressure, what president Trump used in the Middle East to make peace, and I hope that he will use the same instruments, even more, to pressure Putin to stop his war in Ukraine.”
Ukraine has been at war with Russia for more than 1,300 days since Putin’s invasion in February 2022. Trump has faced particular difficulty with ending the conflict, expressing frustration on several occasions at both Putin and Zelenskyy.
Israel’s army chief, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir said that the country achieved a “victory over Hamas” through the military pressure exerted over the past two years, combined with diplomatic efforts.
“The military pressure we applied over the past two years, together with complementary diplomatic measures, constitute a victory over Hamas,” Zamir said in a televised statement.
“We will continue to act in order to shape a security reality that ensures the Gaza Strip no longer poses a threat to the State of Israel and its civilians … Through our operations, we are reshaping the Middle East and our security strategy for the years ahead,” he added.
The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon says one of its members was “lightly” wounded by an Israeli grenade dropped near a UN position in the country’s south.
“Just before noon yesterday, an Israeli drone dropped a grenade that exploded near a UNIFIL position in Kafer Kela. One peacekeeper was lightly injured and received medical assistance,” a statement from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) reads. “Before the grenade was dropped, peacekeepers had observed two drones flying near their position.”
It continues: “This is the second IDF grenade attack on peacekeepers this month. It represents another serious violation of resolution 1701 and concerning disregard for the safety of peacekeepers implementing their mandate from the Security Council. We again call on the IDF to cease attacks on or near peacekeepers, who are working to rebuild the stability that both Israel and Lebanon have committed to restore.”
Netanyahu’s spokesperson has responded to the strong negative reaction from the massive crowd at a rally in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv last night, where the mention of the Israeli prime minister’s name drew loud boos from a large number of people in attendance.
Spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian told a press briefing today that Netanyahu “has got us to this point in cooperation and coordination with President Trump,” adding: “Prime Minister Netanyahu took risks, and those risks led us to this point.”
She added: “The first phase of this plan is releasing all of our hostages, and that was a dedication and a promise he made to those families, and here I am standing today telling you that the prime minister is following through, following through on that promise.”
The Palestinian Authority is ready to work with US president Donald Trump and former British prime minister Tony Blair on their effort to consolidate the Gaza ceasefire and start rebuilding, a senior Palestinian official told Blair on Sunday.
Trump’s plan for ending the Gaza war holds out the prospect of the Palestinian Authority, based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and led by president Mahmoud Abbas, eventually taking control of Gaza, but only after it completes reforms. Abbas lost control of Gaza to the Hamas militant group in 2007.
Trump’s proposal says Hamas must end its rule of Gaza and foresees the territory being run by a Palestinian technocratic committee supervised by an international body chaired by him and including Blair.
Hussein al-Sheikh, deputy head of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said he had met Blair to discuss the day after in Gaza and making Trump’s plan for “stopping the Gaza war and establishing lasting peace in the region a success”.
“We have confirmed our readiness to work with President Trump, Mr Blair and the partners to consolidate the ceasefire, the entry of aid, the release of hostages and prisoners, and then start with the recovery and reconstruction,” Sheikh wrote on X. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected Gaza being run by the Palestinian Authority.
Thaslima Begum
A Gaza PhD student who won a fully funded scholarship to the University of Glasgow has spoken of her heartbreak at her family being denied entry to the UK.
In May, Manar al-Houbi received confirmation of her successful application. “It felt almost too good to be true,” she said. As well as her tuition fees, her scholarship from a charity, the Council for At Risk Academics (Cara), covers housing and living costs for her and all family members.
She completed visa applications for the family, but last month, just before her studies were due to start, she received an email from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), saying that her family would not be allowed to travel with her.
As part of a UK crackdown on immigration, most international students are not allowed to bring their dependants with them. However, there are exceptions for full-time PhD students such as Houbi, whose scholarship and visa permit her to bring her family.
You can read the full story here:
Hamas insists seven Palestinian leaders be freed in hostage-prisoner swap, sources say
Hamas is insisting seven Palestinian leaders should be freed in the hostage-prisoner swap, sources close to negotiators have told AFP.
“Hamas insists that the final list include seven senior leaders, most notably Marwan Barghouti, Ahmad Saadat, Ibrahim Hamed, and Abbas Al-Sayyed,” a source said (see post at 09.10 for details about Barghouti and Saadat).
We have not been able to independently verify this information yet and it is unclear if this demand risks derailing the exchange tomorrow.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has confirmed it won’t release Barghouti, who is serving multiple life sentences .
This post was amended at 16.30 BST to clarify that Marwan Barghouti rejected the jurisdiction of the court and denied the charges against him.
Trump to meet with hostages, JD Vance confirms, as he says ‘we are on cusp of a sustainable Middle East peace’
Edward Helmore
US vice-president JD Vance confirmed that Donald Trump would travel to the Middle East on Sunday to meet with Israeli hostages who will be released under the first phase of the Israel-Hamas peace agreement. He added that the Middle East was now on the “cusp of a sustainable peace”.
“Knock on wood we feel very confident that hostages will be released, and that the president is actually traveling to the Middle East, likely this evening in order to meet them and greet them in person,” Vance told CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday.
Vance called the first step in the implementation of the 20-point peace agreement, “a big day for their families, but I think more importantly, it’s a big day for the entire world.”
He said the deal was “a very tall task” and Trump had “pursued a very non-traditional diplomacy with people who were not 40-year diplomats, but people who brought a fresh perspective to it.”
“We are now on the cusp of a sustainable peace in the Middle East,” Vance added.
But he warned that phase two of the agreement, which includes Hamas agreeing to hand over weapons and the administration of Gaza to a Palestinian body of independent technocrats, “is going to take consistent leverage and consistent pressure from the President of the United States on down”.
Vance was asked how long 200 US troops would remain in the area. “These are not troops who are going to be put in Gaza, but they’re troops who are already at Central Command (Al Udeid airbase in Qatar). They’ve been at that base for many, many years, and they’re going to help monitor and mediate this peace.”
But Vance said:
Inevitably, they’re going to be conflicts here. There are going to be things that the people in Gaza disagree with Israel about, and the Israelis disagree with the Gulf Arab states about.
We see our role really as mediating some of those disputes and the pressure stays on everybody to achieve a durable and lasting piece.
Vance predicted that Arab countries and Muslim-majority countries, including Indonesia, would provide troops to ensure Gaza’s security and that would “make it possible to rebuild, possible to dismantle terrorist networks and possible to ensure a lasting peace.”
The US, he said, “is going to continue to play our mediation role, and I think that’s a very, very good place for all of us to be.”
Here are some of the latest images being sent to us over the newswires from Gaza:
Death toll from Israeli attacks on Gaza reaches 67,806, says health ministry
At least 67,806 Palestinian people have been killed and 170,066 others injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
Most of the people killed have been civilians, many of whom were women and children.
In a statement, the health ministry said the bodies of 124 people, including 117 recovered from rubble, arrived in hospitals across the Gaza Strip over the latest 24-hour reporting period. It said 33 people had been injured.
The health ministry, whose figures the UN finds credible, added:
A number of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, as ambulance and civil defence teams are unable to reach them so far.