By Suzanne Downing 
President Donald Trump is scheduled to arrive in Israel on Monday morning for a brief yet high-profile visit celebrating the recent hostage-release agreement and partial Gaza truce.
According to the itinerary, Trump will land at Ben Gurion Airport around 9:20 am local time, where he will receive an official welcome before addressing the Knesset (Israel’s parliament). He is also expected to meet with families of freed hostages.
The visit will last less than four hours before Trump departs for Egypt.
The trip highlights progress in a deal brokered with US involvement that led to Hamas’s release of several living hostages and the return of remains, as well as Israel’s partial withdrawal from Gaza and the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. About 20 hostages are still believed to be alive out of 47 previously held.
Trump has described the agreement as a “great deal for everybody,” framing it as a step toward broader Middle East peace.
Following his stop in Israel, Trump will travel to Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, for a “peace summit” co-chaired with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi. The summit is expected to draw world leaders to discuss the next phase of regional stabilization efforts.
The timing of the visit coincides with the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah and the Hebrew calendar anniversary of the October 2023 attacks that ignited the latest conflict.
This marks Trump’s first international trip of his second term and comes as the US faces domestic turbulence, including an ongoing government shutdown. Democrats have used the trip to criticize him for traveling during the shutdown, as they are evidently preferring bloodshed to peace, and preferred ongoing conflict to any victory for Trump.
Israeli officials and families of freed hostages have praised his role in the negotiations.
The silence from the antisemites and Hamas apologists who have been caterwauling about a ceasefire is deafening.