Gaza Hostages Released as Questions Remain in Ceasefire Process bloomberg.com

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Hamas has freed all remaining living Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip. Israel has released almost 2,000 jailed Palestinians.

President Donald Trump has landed in Egypt for a signing ceremony on the Gaza plan which will be attended by other global leaders. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was invited by Egypt to attend but is not going.

The ceasefire deal was secured after days of indirect negotiations brokered by the US, Egypt, Qatar and Turkey on the terms of a 20-point plan put forward by Trump.

Trump spoke earlier at the Israeli parliament, where he said Gaza would be immediately demilitarized and Hamas would be disarmed. He also used his speech to lobby for Netanyahu to receive a pardon that would offer a reprieve from his ongoing corruption trial.

Amid a lack of clarity over who will run Gaza in the long term, it’s notable that Donald Trump seems to be cooling on the idea of Tony Blair, the former UK prime minister, playing a key role.

Under Trump’s 20-point plan, a “Board of Peace” — chaired by Trump and including Blair — will oversee a technocratic committee of Palestinians responsible for public services. Yet on Air Force One to Tel Aviv, Trump cast some doubt on that, perhaps alluding to Blair’s unpopularity in the Arab world because of the UK’s involvement in the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

“First, I want to find out that Tony will be popular with all because I just don’t know that,” Trump told reporters. “I have always liked Tony but I want to find out that he is an acceptable choice to everybody.”