President Trump told The Post Thursday morning that “tremendous things” are set to happen next week in the Middle East — as he prepares to travel to the region after brokering the release of dozens of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
“Well, it’s been a great period of time for Israel and the Middle East, and I’ll be going there probably on Sunday, Sunday evening,” Trump said in a brief phone conversation hours after announcing the “first phase” agreement between the Jewish state and the Islamic terror group.
Trump spoke to The Post about the historic cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas. AP
People in Tel Aviv celebrate after the cease-fire deal is announced. AP
Palestinians celebrate in Khan Yunis after the cease-fire deal was announced on October 8, 2025. AFP via Getty Images
President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House, Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. AP“And I think that you will see some tremendous things happen next week. It’s been an amazing period of time. The whole world has come together, but the Middle East has come together for the first time in 3,000 years.”
Roughly 20 living Israeli hostages are expected to be released on Monday, a senior US official told The Post on Wednesday, with the remains of another 28 who died during two years in captivity to be handed over later.
Palestinian children celebrate on October 9, 2025, after news of the cease-fire deal. AFP via Getty ImagesThe president’s 20-point peace plan, to which Hamas tentatively agreed Oct. 3, calls for Israel to release 250 Palestinians with life sentences “plus 1,700 Gazans who were detained after October 7, 2023.”
“Once all hostages are returned, Hamas members who commit to peaceful co-existence and to decommission their weapons will be given amnesty,” Trump’s peace blueprint says. “Members of Hamas who wish to leave Gaza will be provided safe passage to receiving countries.”
People wave US and Israeli flags at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv. AFP via Getty ImagesTrump told reporters Wednesday afternoon that he expects to go to Egypt, where peace talks are being hosted at the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, but would also be “making the rounds” and may even stop in the war-torn Gaza Strip.
People react to the cease-fire news in Tel Aviv on October 9, 2025. AFP via Getty ImagesPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, has invited Trump to address the Israeli Knesset.
The president’s precise itinerary was unclear as of Thursday morning.
Marco Rubio speaks to Trump on October 8, 2025 during a roundtable on Antifa. REUTERSTrump has framed the cessation of fighting as bringing peace to the region as a whole — after his first-term diplomatic push established relations between Israel and four Arab countries, a list which he has attempted to broaden to include Saudi Arabia and Syria in his second term.
The Trump plan specifies three rounds of Israeli troop pullbacks away from Gaza’s heavily populated coastal areas, with the first due to occur in conjunction with the initial hostage release.
Israelis celebrate in Tel Aviv on October 9, 2025, after the historic cease-fire deal was announced. Getty ImagesKey sticking points in the roadmap — such as international troop contributions to a Gaza peacekeeping force and members of a proposed “technocratic, apolitical” interim government with no Hamas involvement — remain undetermined.
The transitional government would be overseen by a Board of Peace chaired by Trump, with former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair as a member.
Palestinians celebrate on October 9, 2025 after the cease-fire deal was brokered. ZUMAPRESS.comThe roadmap, which calls for no forced relocation of residents, followed a year of dramatic threats and inducements, with Trump at one point floating clearing out the beachfront territory and turning it into a US-owned “Riviera of the Middle East.”
Trump’s breakthrough came roughly 36 hours before the Friday morning announcement of the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize — an award that prominent Republicans and many of his foreign allies have clamored for him to win.






