President Donald Trump said at the top of Thursday’s White House cabinet meeting that he expects the release of Hamas’s remaining hostages on Monday or Tuesday, adding that it is a “complicated process” to retrieve them.
Trump updated the world on the timeline for the hostage return at the beginning of the meeting, which comes a day after he brokered the first phase of a historic peace agreement between Israel and Hamas.
“We secured the release of all of the remaining hostages, and they should be released on Monday or Tuesday,” he said.
“Getting them is a complicated process. I’d rather not tell you what they have to do to get them,” he added. “They’re places you don’t want to be, but we are getting the hostages back on Tuesday, Monday or Tuesday, and that’ll be a day of joy.”
Twenty hostages are reportedly believed to be alive. Trump said of the remaining hostages in Hamas captivity, 28 are believed to be dead, noting they are mostly young men and boys.
“We’re bringing them home, getting them too, getting everything, and to those parents, the dead young man is just as important as though … this person were alive. It’s amazing,” he added.
Trump reiterated his hope to visit the Middle East in the coming days.
“I’m going to try and make a trip over. We’re going to try and get over there, and we’re working on the timing, the exact timing. We’re going to go to Egypt, where we’ll have a signing, an additional sign, and we’ve already had a signing representing me,” he said.
He also noted that Israel has invited him to speak at the Knesset on his trip to the Middle East.
“Well, they asked me to speak at the Knesset and I’ve agreed to–if they would like me to, I will do it,” he said.
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