US President Donald Trump said Thursday he plans to leave on Sunday to visit the Middle East following successful negotiations on the first phase of a Gaza peace plan, which includes a ceasefire and the release of hostages.“The hostages will be coming back Monday or Tuesday. I’ll probably be there. I hope to be there. And we’re planning on leaving sometime Sunday, and I look forward to it,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
“Everybody’s celebrating. Everybody loves the deal, so it’s a great honor to have been working on it,” he added.On Wednesday, Trump said that he will most likely visit Egypt, noting, “That’s where everybody is gathered right now… I’ll be making the rounds, as the expression goes.” He said that a peace deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza is “very close” and that he might travel to the Middle East toward the end of the week.At one point, secretary of State Marco Rubio handed Trump an urgent note, prompting the president to announce, “I was just given a note by the Secretary of State saying that we’re very close to a deal in the Middle East. And they are going to need me.”During Thursday’s briefing, Trump claimed that the two-year Gaza war has “ended,” highlighting the significance of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement. “Last night, we reached a momentous breakthrough in the Middle East, something that people said was never going to be done. We ended the war in Gaza, and I think it’s going to be a lasting peace, hopefully, an everlasting peace. We secured the release of all of the remaining hostages, and they should be released on Monday or Tuesday. Getting them is a complicated process,” he said.
