US President Donald Trump spoke to reporters on Sunday before boarding Air Force One and taking off for Israel.
“This is a very special event. There are 500,000 people, yesterday and today in Israel, and also the Muslim and Arab countries are all cheering. Everybody's cheering at one time, that's never happened before,” he said.
“Usually, if you have one cheering, the other isn't. The other is the opposite. This is the first time everybody is amazed and they're thrilled and it's an honor to be involved and we're going to have an amazing time and it's going to be something that's never happened before. So, I'll see you on the plane and we're going to have a good time,” added Trump.
He later spoke to reporters again aboard Air Force One, stating that “the war is over” when a reporter pointed out that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not yet declared the war to be over.
Trump indicated that the 20 remaining living hostages may be released “a little bit early” though he would not guarantee that.
“Getting them was amazing, actually, because we were involved, and they were in places that you don't want to know about. Deep, deep, deep,” he added.
Trump praised Netanyahu and described him as a wartime Prime Minister, adding, “He did a very good job. I had some disputes with him and they were quickly settled, I can tell you that.”
“But as far as I'm concerned, I think he's done a great job. I think he was the right person at this time,” said the President.
Trump is scheduled to land in Israel on Monday morning at 9:20 a.m. and meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He will later meet families of hostages at the Knesset before addressing the Knesset at 11:00 a.m.
At 1:00 p.m., Trump will depart Israel and head towards Egypt, where he will host a high-stakes international summit aimed at ending the war in Gaza.