President Donald Trump told Israel’s parliament on Monday, Oct. 13, 2025, that a “golden age of the Middle East” is within reach, hours after Israel confirmed the return of all 20 living hostages from Gaza under a U.S.-backed ceasefire.
Speaking in Jerusalem, Trump thanked lawmakers for what he called an extraordinary welcome and said the region stands at a “beginning of the age of faith and hope,” with guns silent and skies calm.
Hostages home and a fragile calm
Israel’s military said the last group of living captives had crossed back into Israel for medical checks and reunions with families.
The exchange is part of a ceasefire package that also saw Israel begin releasing prisoners, a sequence that unfolded through the morning and into the afternoon.
Officials have said the remains of the dead are to be returned under the agreement, although timelines and logistics remain sensitive.
Wire services noted the ceasefire contains multiple phases that depend on continued quiet and on verifiable steps by Hamas toward demilitarization. Skeptics in Israel and abroad are watching to see whether the calm holds once the first emotional wave of homecomings gives way to harder security questions
In the chamber: praise, pledges and a pardon plea
Trump’s remarks drew repeated standing ovations. He praised Israeli families who endured two years of uncertainty and urged lawmakers to “translate victories against terrorists on the battlefield into the prize of peace and prosperity.”
Coverage of the session captured a striking moment when he addressed President Isaac Herzog directly and suggested a pardon for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was indicted in 2019 on bribery, fraud and breach of trust charges.
Independent reporting on the speech and the pardon line appeared in The Independent, which quoted Trump as saying, “Why don’t you give him a pardon?” would rally parliamentary leaders worldwide to nominate the president for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize.
The pledge was noted across outlets following the session and highlighted in several live blogs and wires that tracked reactions in the hall and on social platforms. Reuters-linked roundups and U.S. networks also recorded the enthusiastic reception that greeted Trump’s entrance, framing the day as a symbolic pivot from war to diplomacy.
What the ceasefire’s next phase requires
The ceasefire architecture includes staged withdrawals by Israeli forces, disarmament steps by Hamas and expanded humanitarian access.
Security officials say the most delicate element is the requirement that armed groups in Gaza surrender heavy weapons and allow an international stabilization presence to take root.
Early humanitarian convoys began moving as detainees were released from Israeli prisons, and families of former captives in Gaza started to receive remains of the dead, a process that could take time.
Economists and energy officials are watching whether cross-border commerce, power generation and fuel deliveries can scale up quickly enough to prevent renewed instability. The government in Jerusalem has paired the ceasefire with plans to harden defenses along the Gaza perimeter, while reserving the right to respond to any violations.
