Key moments from a momentous day for Israelis and Palestinians

Ammar Awad/Reuters via CNN Newsource

By Lauren Kent

(CNN) — The last 20 living hostages held in Gaza were released on Monday, reuniting with their families in jubilant scenes as world leaders gathered in Egypt to discuss the future of Gaza and the next phases of the US-brokered ceasefire deal.

For the first time in more than two years, Hamas and its allies are not holding any living hostages in Gaza.

Meanwhile, 1,718 Palestinian detainees who were being held in Israel without charge were released on Monday and returned to Gaza. Israel also released 250 Palestinians serving long-term sentences.

Addressing the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, on Monday during his trip to the Middle East, US President Donald Trump said the “long and painful nightmare is finally over.”

“This is a historic dawn of a new Middle East,” Trump told Israeli lawmakers, having earlier projected confidence that the ceasefire deal would hold and that the war in Gaza was over.

But a number of issues related to the 20-point plan brokered by Trump, alongside Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, remain unresolved.

Here are some key moments from Monday and where the peace process may go next:

Hostages freed

The remaining 20 living hostages were released in two groups on Monday, prompting elation and relief throughout Israel.

In Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, large crowds cheered, waved flags and chanted “thank you, Trump!” as news of the hostages’ freedom was announced.

Emotional scenes unfolded at the Re’im military facility in southern Israel, where the released hostages were reunited with their immediate families after more than two years in captivity.

In footage shared by the Israeli military, 24-year-old Guy Gilboa-Dalal, who was kidnapped from the Nova music festival, was met by his parents and siblings. His family cried and embraced him in a large hug.

Omri Miran, 48, who was kidnapped when Hamas gunmen broke into his family’s home in kibbutz Nahal Oz, was met by his wife Lishay Miran-Lavi and his father Dani Miran. Photos showed him playing with his children for the first time in more than two years.

“We are at the beginning of a complex and challenging, yet moving, journey of recovery,” Miran’s family said in a statement.

Under the agreement brokered by the US, Hamas and its allies were meant to release all of the remaining hostages, including 28 dead ones, within 72 hours of the ceasefire being announced.

Israeli authorities said that Hamas had handed over four coffins said to contain the remains of four deceased hostages to the Red Cross on Monday.

Later in the day, Israeli police said the coffins had been released into Israel, before being escorted to the National Institute of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv for formal identification. Israel has not yet confirmed the identities of the remains being returned.

Palestinian prisoners released

Israel released 1,718 Palestinian detainees – detained by its forces in Gaza over the past two years and held without charge – on Monday. The detainees were brought back to Gaza on buses, where they were met by large crowds at Nasser hospital in the southern part of the enclave.

Israel also released 250 Palestinians serving life or long-term prison sentences.

Some of those released prisoners were taken to the occupied West Bank, where they were hugged by family and friends as they emerged from buses in Ramallah. CNN also witnessed a substantial presence of Palestinian security forces and medics at the scene.

A further 154 Palestinian prisoners who had been serving long sentences in Israeli jails were deported to Egypt, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Society. Israeli authorities had demanded that prisoners convicted of “violent offenses” be deported to third countries rather than be allowed to return to the West Bank or Gaza.

Trump’s pointed address to Israel

Trump spoke for more than an hour in the Israeli parliament, taking a victory lap for the ceasefire deal and repeatedly, pointedly telling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to not restart the war.

“Israel, with our help, has won all that they can by force of arms. You’ve won. I mean, you’ve won,” Trump said. “Now it’s time to translate these victories against terrorists on the battlefield into the ultimate prize of peace and prosperity for the entire Middle East. It’s about time you were able to enjoy the fruits of your labor.”

The US president also warned that more war would diminish Netanyahu’s legacy, adding that he will be remembered for the truce “far more than if you kept this thing going.”

Netanyahu has previously been accused of prolonging the war in Gaza in order to delay and distract from his corruption cases and domestic political troubles, an accusation he’s rejected.

World leaders meet in Egypt

Trump traveled on to Egypt to meet with other world leaders, including the leaders of Qatar, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. They converged on the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, where Egypt and the US are co-hosting a summit on the end of the Gaza war and the next phases of a peace plan.

World leaders took part in a signing ceremony for the Gaza ceasefire deal during the summit.

Netanyahu said he was invited but did not attend.

The 20-point ceasefire plan brokered by the United States, Egypt, Qatar and Turkey still has several unresolved issues and details that must be hammered out.

Those sticking points include how the largely destroyed Gaza Strip will be governed after the war, as well as how Hamas’ disarmament and Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza will be carried out.

Next steps of ceasefire plan

The full withdrawal of the Israeli military is contingent on Hamas’ disarmament, according to the agreement, leaving some wiggle room for Netanyahu to say Israel still has the freedom to resume fighting.

Hamas’ chief negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya, said last week that the group has received guarantees from the US and international mediators confirming that this deal means “the war has ended permanently,” rather than representing a temporary ceasefire. It’s not clear in what form those guarantees came.

The key unanswered question is what will happen to Hamas, according to Burcu Ozcelik, senior research fellow for Middle East security at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a British think tank.

“You have what looks like a pathway to Palestinian statehood … but this, ultimately, is a Palestinian state that does not seem to have any place for Hamas. To what extent Hamas will agree to this and comply with this in the weeks and months to come – I think that is a big question,” Ozcelik told CNN.

“I think Israel will retain what it sees as its national security imperative to operate in Gaza if it believes that there is a credible threat to its security and its border communities,” Ozcelik said. “But at the same time, there needs to be a governing body in Gaza. There needs to be security and law enforcement. There needs to be basic service delivery and distribution of vital humanitarian aid.”

She added that other regional actors will be expected to play an important role in the transition, particularly Egypt and Turkey. “I think for the time being, all sides are going to want to be seen as doing all that they can to make Trump’s plan work.”

CNN’s Kevin Liptak, Ivana Kottasova, Kara Fox, Tim Lister, Abeer Salman and Eyad Kourdi contributed to this report.

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