Live Updates: Trump Addresses Israeli Parliament as Hostages and Some Palestinian Prisoners Are Freed
“President Trump addressed Israel’s Parliament following the release of the last 20 living hostages from Gaza and the beginning of a cease-fire deal. The deal, brokered in part by the United States, involves the exchange of hostages for the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. While the cease-fire brings a temporary end to the conflict, it leaves many questions unanswered about the future of the region.
President Trump hailed a “historic dawn” in the Middle East after Hamas freed the last 20 living hostages and Israel began releasing some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. But the cease-fire deal in Gaza leaves unanswered questions.
Current time in
Jerusalem2:42 p.m. Oct. 13
Live
Pinned
President Trump was addressing Israel’s Parliament on Monday morning, hours after Hamas released the last 20 living hostages from Gaza and Israel began releasing nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners as part of a cease-fire deal brokered in part by the United States.
The 20 hostages returned to Israeli territory after Hamas freed them early Monday, a crucial step in the deal that took effect on Friday. In exchange, buses carrying Palestinian prisoners released by Israel arrived in the West Bank city of Ramallah, the first of nearly 2,000 prisoners expected to be freed in the coming hours.
Two left-wing lawmakers belonging to a joint Palestinian-Israeli political party were just escorted out of the Knesset for displaying signs that said “Recognize Palestine!” during President Trump’s speech. Security quickly surrounded them and removed them from the parliament’s main chamber. The remaining lawmakers applauded so as to distract from the incident. After being invited to continue, Trump pursed his lips before saying: “That was very efficient.”
President Trump has a script for his address to the Knesset, and typically, he is not sticking to it. He lauded Steve Witkoff, his special envoy, with a lengthy story about Witkoff negotiating for hours with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia (without mentioning that the U.S. relationship with Russia has gone south). He talked about Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, and moved on to Marco Rubio, who he said would go down in history as America’s greatest secretary of state. Trump even praised Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, before spinning into an explanation of why Trump changed Hegseth’s title to “Secretary of War.”
No comments:
Post a Comment