(NewsNation) — Hamas has released the 20 living Israeli hostages back to Israel as part of a ceasefire between the two groups.
The release of the hostages was made possible by that ceasefire, which was brokered by the Trump administration. They were released in two groups after spending two years in underground tunnels with very little food and water.
As part of that deal, Israel has also agreed to release nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, most of whom were caught in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks in 2023.
Vice President JD Vance has called the development of the deal “unconventional” to put in place. Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and envoy Steve Witkoff were key players in bringing this deal to fruition, despite not being career diplomats.
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Both Kushner and Witzoff were able to bring Hamas to the table to negotiate using direct diplomacy and ensuring that Israel also held up its side of the ceasefire. Trump also spoke of other reasons why he believed Hamas finally came to the table, like the strikes the U.S. launched on Iran back in June.
“Frankly, if we didn’t hit them with a nuke, I don’t think we would’ve been able to have this incredible, once-in-a-lifetime deal,” Trump said before a peace summit in Egypt on Monday. “No one’s ever seen anything like what is happening today.”
The deal faced challenges on both Hamas’ side and the Israeli side, with Trump at times publicly talking about being frustrated with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It was the Israeli strike on Qatar’s airbase that Israel did not warn the U.S. about beforehand that angered Trump and later prompted the ceasefire negotiations.
Trump also made Netanyahu apologize to Qatari officials in a phone call late last month in which he expressed his “deep regret” over the strike that killed six people.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump have both said the difficult work starts now as the first phase of the ceasefire takes effect.
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