The remaining living 20 hostages are set to be released and returned to Israel Monday morning after over two years of captivity in Gaza. The breakthrough is a testament to President Donald Trump’s “nonconventional leadership style,” according to Vice President JD Vance.
“I think the story of how this historic peace deal came to fruition is that you had Secretary [Marco] Rubio, you had Jared Kushner, you had Steve Witkoff who were empowered by the president of the United States in very nonconventional ways to bring the Gulf Arab states and Israel to the table and really force them together to hammer out a peace deal,” Vance told Fox News on Sunday.
Israel and Hamas agreed to the terms of a ceasefire and hostage deal about 24 hours after Kushner, who helped to negotiate the Abraham Accords during the first Trump administration, and Witkoff, U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, arrived in Egypt last week to work with mediators on the final detail of the agreement.
Working with mediators from Turkey, Egypt and Qatar, U.S. officials were able to get Israel and Hamas to agree to a deal Wednesday night that is based on Trump’s 20-point peace plan, which includes the release of all the 48 hostages still in Gaza and the demilitarization of Hamas. Trump himself was on the phone with those involved in the negotiations as they were underway in Egypt last week, according to senior U.S. officials.
The apparent lack of trust between Israel and Hamas was one of the greatest barriers to overcome in the dealmaking process, according to senior U.S. officials. The Israelis have been skeptical that a full Hamas demilitarization will indeed take place, and Hamas has feared that attacks from Israeli military will resume following the release of the hostages. But with a firm commitment to Trump’s 20-point plan and guarantees from mediating counties to ensure Israel and Hamas abided the terms of the deal, U.S. officials said an agreement was reached.
Trump succeeded in getting Israel and Hamas to agree to a peace deal because he was willing to take “a dramatically different approach” from others, Robert Greenway, director of the Allison Center for National Security at The Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Signal.