SHARM EL SHEIKH – US President Donald Trump hailed a“tremendous day for the Middle East” as he and regional leaders signed a declaration Monday meant to cement a ceasefire in Gaza, hours after Israel and Hamas exchanged hostages and prisoners.

Trump made a lightning visit to Israel, where he lauded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an address to parliament, before flying to Egypt for a Gaza summit where he and the leaders of Egypt, Qatar and Turkey signed the declaration as guarantors to the Gaza deal.

“This is a tremendous day for the world, it's a tremendous day for the Middle East,” Trump said as more than two dozen world leaders sat down to talk in the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

“The document is going to spell out rules and regulations and lots of other things,” Trump said before signing, repeating twice that“it's going to hold up.”

As part of Trump's plan to end the Gaza war, Hamas on Monday freed the last 20 surviving hostages it held after two years of captivity in Gaza.

In exchange, Israel released 1,968 mostly Palestinian prisoners held in its jails, its prison service said.

“From October 7 until this week, Israel has been a nation at war, enduring burdens that only a proud and faithful people could withstand,” Trump told lawmakers during an address to Israel's parliament, where he received a lengthy standing ovation upon his arrival.

“For so many families across this land, it has been years since you've known a single day of true peace,” he continued.“Not only for Israelis, but also for Palestinians and for many others, the long and painful nightmare is finally over.”

Under the ceasefire agreement, Hamas was also due to return the bodies of 27 hostages who died or were killed in captivity, as well as the remains of a soldier killed in 2014 during a previous Gaza conflict.

Israel has said it does not expect all of the dead hostages to be returned on Monday, though the army said it had received the bodies of two captives that were handed over to the Red Cross by Hamas, and that it was still expecting the remains of two more.

Of the prisoners it freed in return, around 250 were security detainees, including many convicted of killing Israelis, while about 1,700 were taken into custody by the Israeli army in Gaza during the war.

On October 7, 2023, fighters seized 251 hostages during Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel, which led to the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians.

All but 47 of those hostages were freed in earlier truces, with the families of those who have remained in captivity leading lives of constant pain and worry for their loved ones.

A new birth

In Gaza, too, the ceasefire has brought relief, but with much of the territory flattened by war, the road to recovery remains long.

“The greatest joy is seeing my whole family gathered to welcome me,” Yusef Afana, a 25-year-old released prisoner from north Gaza, told AFP in Khan Yunis.

“I spent 10 months in prison - some of the hardest days I've ever lived.”

In the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, meanwhile, Palestinian prisoners released by Israel were met by a cheering crowd so dense that they struggled to get off the bus that delivered them from jail.

“It's an indescribable feeling, a new birth,” newly released Mahdi Ramadan said, flanked by his parents.

Trump's visit to the Middle East aims to celebrate his role in brokering last week's ceasefire and hostage release deal - but much remains to be negotiated.

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