Historic dawn of a new Middle East

Highlights

Trump urges Israel Parliament to seize chance for peace

Jerusalem: US President Donald Trump has told cheering Israeli lawmakers that "the long and painful nightmare is finally over", after helping to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

During the first such address by a US president since 2008, Trump said the day would mark "the moment that everything began to change and change very much for the better" in the Middle East. He told Israeli lawmakers that their country had no more to achieve on the battlefield and must work toward peace in the Middle East. Trump's address to the Israeli Parliament, the Knesset, comes on the day that the last 20 living hostages held in the Palestinian enclave were released by Hamas.

Israel is releasing 250 Palestinian prisoners and more than 1,700 other Palestinians detained during the two-year military operations in Gaza. During a whirlwind trip to the region, Trump will also attend a peace summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, alongside Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and other world leaders.

After hearing politicians' chants of "Trump, Trump, Trump" in the Knesset, the American President suggested the region was experiencing "the historic dawn of a new Middle East".

It echoed the words he used when Israel signed landmark deals with several Arab states during his first presidency.

"At last, not only for Israelis but also Palestinians, the long and painful nightmare is finally over," Trump said.

The ceasefire that he helped to broker was "the most challenging breakthrough of them all, the most challenging breakthrough maybe ever", Trump added.