Trump says he thinks Gaza hostages will be 'coming back' Monday

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said he believes all the hostages held in Gaza, including the bodies of those deceased, will be “coming back” Monday after Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire.

“So much is happening to get the hostages freed, and we think they’ll all be coming back on Monday, so it looks like that’s the thing, and that’ll include the bodies of the dead,” Trump said in a phone interview on Fox News.

The Republican president spoke late Wednesday, hours after he announced the 20-point peace plan aimed at ending two years of a brutal war that left Gaza in ruins and unleashed a humanitarian disaster.

Under the plan, Palestinian group Hamas would release all hostages while Israel would pull its troops back to an agreed-upon line, Trump said after talks in Egypt resulted in an agreement.

He was quick to suggest the deal could ripple through the region, to even include contributions from Israel’s and Washington’s longtime foe Iran.

“This is more than Gaza, this is peace in the Middle East,” he told Fox, adding he believes “Iran is going to be actually a part of the whole peace situation.”

“The world has come together around this deal,” he continued, saying it was “great for Israel, so great for Muslims, for the Arab countries, and so great for this country.”

The American leader has long suggested the Palestinian enclave along the Mediterranean Sea could eventually be rebuilt into a flourishing hub if tensions in the region ease, and he hinted at those hopes again Wednesday, adding that the United States would be involved.

Gaza is “going to be a place that reconstructs, and other countries in the area will help it reconstruct, because they have tremendous amounts of wealth, and they want to see that happen,” he said.

“And we’ll be involved in helping them make it successful and helping it stay peaceful.”