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Trump plans Israel trip as IDF withdrawal in Gaza triggers 72-hour clock for hostage release
(JTA) — President Donald Trump says he is planning to head to Israel to mark the ceasefire deal he brokered in the Gaza war.
The Israeli government officially approved the agreement late Thursday, triggering a 72-hour clock for the return of the 48 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. Of them, 20 are presumed to remain alive and will be released first.
The Israeli military said the ceasefire had gone into effect by midday Friday, as required. In Gaza, civilians displaced by two years of war were beginning to return to their homes.
Trump has been invited to address the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, which would mark the first appearance there by a U.S. president in nearly two decades. He is reportedly set to arrive for a short visit on Monday that will not include a stop at Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square over security concerns.
Details of how the Gaza deal came to pass have begun to emerge. Trump was reportedly closely involved in negotiations, making multiple calls himself to parties involved in them, and gave his personal assurances that Israel would not be allowed to restart fighting after the first phase of the deal, as it did during the last ceasefire in March.
To support that assurance, about 200 U.S. soldiers will be dispatched to Israel to participate in an international monitoring team. The team will also include soldiers from Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates — all Muslim nations that played a role in the Gaza talks. Talks are continuing in Egypt around yet-undecided elements of the deal, which include postwar governance for Gaza and the role Hamas can play.
In a videotaped address on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested a return to war could be in the cards if Hamas does not agree in subsequent negotiations to disarm and demilitarize entirely. “If this is achieved the easy way, great,” he said. “And if not, it will be achieved the hard way.”
But he said he had become convinced that agreeing to pull back in Gaza was the only way to secure the release of the hostages.
The deal marks a dramatic return to center stage for Trump’s Jewish son-in-law Jared Kushner, who along with Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff joined the Israel government meeting late Thursday where the deal was approved.
There, they praised Netanyahu for his role in the negotiations. Witkoff also responded to criticism of the deal from the far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, according to local media reports.
Ben-Gvir, who voted against the deal, pressed the men over how they could support an agreement with Hamas, which he said continues to want to kill Israelis.
“I understand your perspective, but let me share a story,” Witkoff responded, according to Arutz Sheva, an Israeli news outlet. “My son died of an overdose. I wanted to kill the person responsible, but when I got to court, I saw his parents — ashamed and pleading for forgiveness. And I forgave them.”
Ben-Gvir answered, “Mr. Witkoff, that’s precisely the difference: the people who murdered us on October 7 are not asking for forgiveness. Their families are proud. They glorify murder. They want to kill Jews.”
Hamas has not apologized for its Oct. 7 attack, which killed more than 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, and took 250 hostages. The 72-hour clock means the remaining hostages must be released under the terms of the deal by midday Monday in Israel, on the eve of the Simchat Torah holiday that is the second anniversary on the Jewish calendar of when they were abducted.
The post Trump plans Israel trip as IDF withdrawal in Gaza triggers 72-hour clock for hostage release appeared first on The Forward.
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Singer James Maslow Expresses Solidarity With Israel in New Song ‘On My Mind’
James Maslow in front of the Dizengoff Fountain in Tel Aviv in the music video for “On My Mind.” Photo: YouTube screenshot
Actor and singer James Maslow recently released a single in collaboration with Israeli artists that celebrates Israel and showcases his solidarity with the Jewish state amid its war against Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
The Jewish artist, who is famously known for his leading role in the Nickelodeon series “Big Time Rush” and as a member of the platinum-selling band of the same name, released on Oct. 3 a track titled “On My Mind,” featuring Shahar Saul, one of Israel’s up and coming rappers, and Israeli vocalist Maya Dadon. “On My Mind” combines “international pop with Middle Eastern influences, reflecting the diversity and vibrancy of Israel itself,” according to a media release about the single.
The music video for the song was filmed in Israel during the Gaza war and is “both a visual love letter to the country and a reminder of the resilience of its people.” The video was made in partnership with Birthright Israel Foundation.
“‘On My Mind’ is about connection, resilience, and remembering those who cannot be forgotten,” Maslow said in a released statement. “Filming in Israel, during such a difficult time, was my way of showing solidarity with a country and people I deeply respect. Working with two incredible Israeli artists made the project even more meaningful.”
During an interview Monday on “CUOMO,” Maslow said the song celebrates Israel’s “diversity, the acceptance, and all the things that I know to be true about it.”
“I have been over there shooting the video to utilize this as hopefully a bridge to bring a bit of a better light to Israel, to Judaism, and hopefully start a conversation where people may realize, ‘Oh, wait a second, I may not have all the facts or I might be being misled right now,’” he added.
“We have normalized antisemitism to the likes of which I never thought that I would see in my life,” Maslow said. “That’s not OK. And that’s why I created this song. And that’s why I’m here today and why I’m standing up.”
Maslow timed the release of “On My Mind” to have it debut mere days before the second anniversary of the deadly Hamas terrorist attack that took place in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Maslow traveled to Washington, DC, to join commemorations for the second anniversary of the Oct. 7 massacre.
“On My Mind” is streaming on all major platforms. Watch the music video below.
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Israel Declares Hamas Defeated ‘Every Place We Fought Them’ as Ceasefire Begins
An Israeli military tank prepares to move atop a truck, after US President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Hamas agreed on the first phase of a Gaza ceasefire, on the Israeli side of the border with Gaza, Oct. 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Hamas is no longer the terrorist group whose invasion of Israel triggered the two-year war in Gaza, the Israeli military spokesperson said on Friday at the start of a ceasefire with the Palestinian Islamist organization.
“Hamas is not the Hamas of two years ago. Hamas has been defeated every place we fought them,” Brigadier General Effie Defrin, the military spokesperson, told reporters at a briefing.
He urged Palestinian residents of Gaza to avoid entering areas under control by the Israel Defense Forces in the enclave.
“I am calling from here on the residents of Gaza to avoid entering areas under IDF control. Keep to the agreement and ensure your safety,” he said.
Thousands of displaced Palestinians began flocking towards their abandoned homes after a US-brokered ceasefire took effect on Friday and Israeli troops began pulling back from parts of Gaza.
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Man Wins Appeal Over Conviction for Burning Koran Outside London’s Turkish Consulate
The cover of a Koran. Photo: Wiki Commons.
A man found guilty of committing a religiously aggravated public order offense by setting fire to a copy of the Koran outside London’s Turkish consulate had his conviction overturned on Friday in what supporters said was a victory for free speech.
Hamit Coskun, 51, was fined 240 pounds ($325) at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court in June after being convicted of an offense by shouting “F–k Islam” as he held aloft the burning book near the consulate in central London in February.
The decision to overturn that verdict after an appeal at London’s Southwark Crown Court was hailed by his supporters as an important triumph for freedom of expression.
“Hamit Coskun’s protest was a lawful act of political dissent,” Stephen Evans, chief executive of the National Secular Society which supported his case, said in a statement. “There is no need to condone the nature of his demonstration – what is important is that it was not criminal.”
Coskun, whose father was Kurdish and his mother Armenian and who lived in central England, had denied the charge and said on social media he was carrying out a protest against the Turkish government. While he was holding the book aloft, he was attacked by a man with a knife who kicked and spat at him.
In its appeal ruling, the court said prosecutors had not properly shown that his behavior was disorderly nor that it was within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused distress.
“Today’s decision reaffirms the vital principle that free speech protects the right to offend, shock, or disturb – even when it challenges deeply held religious beliefs,” Evans said.