Former Presidents Biden and Clinton praised President Trump on Monday for the Gaza peace deal he brokered between Israel and Hamas.
Biden said on X that he’s “deeply grateful and relieved” that the day had come that Hamas had freed the last 20 living hostages and Clinton issued a similar statement on the platform, saying that he’s “grateful that a ceasefire has taken hold.”
President Trump told Axios in a phone interview from Air Force One en route Israel that the Gaza peace deal “could be the biggest thing I was ever involved in.”
As Trump was speaking with Axios, Israel was preparing for the imminent release of the last 20 live hostages held by Hamas. Meanwhile, Trump’s peace plan should end a war that has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry.
President Trump told Axios on Saturday that “we are close” to a peace deal in Gaza, and said he’ll push to finalize it in the next few days.
“I said, ‘Bibi, this is your chance for victory.’ He was fine with it,” Trump told me. “He’s got to be fine with it. He has no choice. With me, you got to be fine.”
Trump’s public messaging and behind-the-scenes diplomacy on Friday brought Israel and Hamas closer than ever to ending a war that began almost exactly two years ago with Hamas’ attacks of October 7, 2023.
President Trump told Axios in an interview Sunday that negotiations over his plan to end the war in Gaza are “at their final stages” and contended a deal could open the way for wider peace in the Middle East.
This is the most significant effort to date to end the war.
- More than 66,000 Palestinians have been killed since the October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry.
- Axios