The Lower Eastern Times Opening The Third Eye
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By: BBC
Hamas released the last Israeli hostages from Gaza on Monday under a ceasefire deal, and Israel returned busloads of Palestinian prisoners home, as US President Donald Trump declared an end to the two-year war in the Middle East.
Hours later, Trump called Muslim and European leaders to Egypt to discuss the future of the Gaza Strip and the possibility of peace in the region, even though Hamas and Israel, both absent from the meeting, have yet to agree on next steps.
The Israeli military said it had received all 20 confirmed hostages alive after they were evacuated from Gaza by the Red Cross. The announcement prompted cheers, hugs and tears among thousands of people waiting in Tel Aviv’s Hosta Square.
In Gaza, thousands of relatives, many crying with joy, gathered at a hospital where buses brought home some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees held by Israel as part of the deal.
“The skies are calm, the guns are silent, the sirens have stopped and the sun is rising over a land that has finally found peace,” Trump told the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, saying the “nightmare” for Israelis and Palestinians was over.
