Israel-Hamas ‘battle is over’: Blessed is the peacemaker… and totally pointless the virtue-signalling liberals like Starmer and Macron
Donald Trump last night proclaimed ‘everlasting peace’ as he clinched a historic deal to bring home Israeli hostages and end the bombardment of Gaza.
The US President’s ‘momentous breakthrough’ was hailed by Israeli families, Palestinians and world leaders alike, after he turned the screw on Benjamin Netanyahu to force an agreement.
Mr Trump announced the breakthrough on his Truth Social platform by quoting from the Gospel of Matthew: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers.’ Even before a deal had been signed, he was looking forward, saying that ‘Iran wants peace’, and ending the war in Ukraine was ‘going to happen’ next.
Twenty Israeli hostages and the bodies of 28 others will be reunited with their loved ones on Monday or Tuesday in a ‘day of joy’, Mr Trump said, ending two years of captivity since Hamas terrorists seized them in the October 7 attacks.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) are set to withdraw to an agreed line within 24 hours, with the peace deal expected to be formally ratified by the Israeli cabinet overnight.
Hamas chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya – who Israel tried to kill in the Qatari capital Doha last month – announced an end to war.
He said the militant group had received assurances from international mediators that the fighting would ‘end permanently’. However, he also vowed to keep working toward a Palestinian state ‘with Jerusalem as its capital’.
Celebrations erupted throughout the region, with families in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square weeping tears of joy, popping champagne corks and lifting signs saying: ‘Trump for Nobel Peace Prize’.
US President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet Meeting at the White House on October 9, 2025
People react as they celebrate following the announcement that Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of a peace plan on Ocotber 9, 2025
There was widespread relief among parents of Israeli soldiers, who will also head home. Palestinians in Gaza whose homeland has been decimated reacted with a mix of joy and disbelief.
Mr Trump has confounded his critics by achieving what no one else, including predecessor Joe Biden, managed.
The President, who is likely to address the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, which was lit up in the colours of the American flag last night, told his cabinet: ‘The whole world has come together for this. People who didn’t like each other, neighbouring countries. This is a moment in time.
‘We reached a momentous breakthrough in the Middle East, something people said was never going to be done. We ended the war in Gaza. An everlasting peace.’
He added: ‘It’s really peace in the Middle East. You remember October 7 was terrible, but from the Hamas standpoint, they’ve probably lost 70,000 people. That’s big retribution. At some point, that whole thing has to stop.’
Mr Trump – expected to be feted as a hero when he visits the region on Sunday – used the force of his personality to broker the deal. As well as pressuring Hamas, he reportedly berated Israeli prime minister Mr Netanyahu, saying: ‘You’re always so f****** negative’.
The President’s 20-point peace plan – hammered out in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh along with negotiators from Qatar, Egypt and Turkey – was achieved despite America refusing to follow the lead of Sir Keir Starmer and French president Emmanuel Macron in controversially recognising a Palestine state.
Sir Keir said the deal was a ‘relief to the world’ as he joined world leaders queueing up to lavish praise on Mr Trump. Mr Macron hailed the ceasefire deal as a ‘great hope’ for the region.
Even Corbynite MP Emily Thornberry, chairman of the foreign affairs committee, said: ‘Frankly, if we get peace in the Middle East and it’s down to Donald Trump, I’ll wear a MAGA hat,’ she told Times Radio.
Securing the return of the hostages comes at a price, though, with Israel agreeing to release 2,000 Hamas prisoners. The country’s finance minister Bezalel Smotrich branded the deal ‘short-sighted’, adding: ‘There is immense fear of the consequences of emptying the prisons and releasing the next generation of terrorist leaders who will do everything to continue to pour rivers of Jewish blood here.’
Israel’s ambassador to the UN said the Israeli government had ‘two bad options – either to leave the hostages behind, or to release those murderers’. Danny Danon described the release of Palestinian prisoners as ‘painful’. And the deal is only ‘phase one’, with further negotiations needed to nail down details on disarming Hamas and who will actually run Gaza – with Sir Tony Blair mooted for a key role on a governing ‘board of peace’.
Mr Trump pledged Hamas disarmament as part of the second phase, with hardline Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir threatening to topple Mr Netanyahu’s government unless the promise is followed through.
Under Mr Trump’s plan, 400 trucks a day of humanitarian aid will start entering Gaza. A UN aid spokesman said: ‘Let’s get the hostages out and surge aid in – fast.’
The moment he knew deal was on
This is the ‘made for TV’ moment Donald Trump found out his Middle East peace deal was clinched.
A hastily scrawled note and a few golden words whispered in the presidential ear immortalised the occasion for history.
A solemn-looking Mr Trump was in the middle of a televised summit when he was interrupted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio with the news. ‘I was just given a note by the Secretary of State saying that we’re very close to a deal
in the Middle East, and they’re going
to need me pretty quickly,’ the President told reporters in the room.
Mr Rubio’s handwritten note on the table, captured by a photographer, read: ‘Very close.
‘We need you to approve a post on Truth Social soon, so you can announce the deal first.’
US Secretary of State Marc Rubio speaks with Donald Trump during a round table in the State Dining Room at the White House
The US President reacts to a note given to him by Marc Rubio during Middle East talks on October 8
…but is it too late for Nobel Prize?
Donald Trump’s Nobel Peace Prize hopes hang in the balance – with his Gaza deal landing three days too late for the Norwegian committee’s last meeting before ‘finalising’ its choice.
However, last night bookies upgraded the US President to joint favourite amid suggestions that the committee could ‘reconsider’. The prestigious prize is due to be announced today at 10am. Mr Trump was made 5/2 joint-favourite alongside Sudan’s Emergency Response Rooms in Ladbrokes’ betting.
A Nobel Institute spokesman left a glimmer of hope for Mr Trump by saying: ‘The final touches were made on Monday, but we never disclose when the Nobel committee makes its decision.’
