“At long last, we have peace in the Middle East,” Donald Trump declared, as he and regional leaders signed a declaration meant to cement a ceasefire in Gaza. Analysts said however that a litany of thorny issues are unresolved, and many barriers to a lasting peace remain.
The president made a lightning visit to Israel, where he lauded prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an address to parliament, and then Egypt, for a summit where he pledged to be a guarantor to the Gaza deal.
As part of Trump’s plan to end the Gaza war, Hamas on Monday freed the last 20 surviving hostages it held after two years of captivity in Gaza. In exchange, Israel released 1,968 mostly Palestinian prisoners held in its jails, its prison service said.
Much remains to be negotiated, among the most pressing sticking points Hamas’s refusal to disarm and Israel’s failure to pledge full withdrawal from the devastated territory.
The US leader, however, repeatedly signalled he was confident the ceasefire will hold, saying at a joint appearance with Egyptian president Abdel Fatah al-Sisi in Sharm el-Sheikh that talks on the next steps of the plan had already “started, as far as we’re concerned”.
Trump sets sights on peace with Iran as he hails ‘end of Gaza war’
Donald Trump has vowed to use the power of his presidency to ensure that Israel recognises it has achieved “all that it can by force of arms”, and begin an age of cooperation in the Middle East that may ultimately extend as far as peace with Iran.
In a speech to the Israeli Knesset, made hours after the last remaining Israeli hostages were released from Gaza, Trump hailed the “historic dawn of a new Middle East” and an end to the “long and painful nightmare” of the Gaza war.
Trump plan to invite Netanyahu to Gaza summit aborted
A last-minute plan by Donald Trump to invite Benjamin Netanyahu to a multinational Gaza summit in Egypt had to be aborted after the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said he would not land his plane in Sharm el-Sheikh if the invitation stood.
US news outlets refuse to sign new Pentagon rules to report only official information
Several leading news organizations with access to Pentagon briefings have formally said they will not agree to a new defense department policy that requires them to pledge they will not obtain unauthorized material and restricts access to certain areas unless accompanied by an official.
The policy, presented last month by the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has been widely criticized by media organizations asked to sign the pledge by Tuesday at 5pm or have 24 hours to turn in their press credentials.
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Senators dig in heels over government shutdown
Republican and Democratic senators Lindsey Graham and Mark Kelly have dug their heels in over the government shutdown – which is now approaching two weeks, with the former saying that the closure won’t push him to meet Democrats’ demands for a restoration of Obama-era healthcare subsidies.
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Obama takes aim at companies cutting deals with Trump
Barack Obama took aim at institutions and businesses who made deals or worked out settlements with the Trump administration, noting on a new podcast episode: “We all have this capacity, I think, to take a stand.”
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Growing number of veterans face arrest over Ice protests
US military veterans increasingly face arrest and injury amid protests over Donald Trump’s deportation campaign and his push to deploy national guard members to an ever-widening number of American cities. The Guardian has identified eight instances where military veterans have been prosecuted or sought damages after being detained by federal agents.
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Firings of hundreds of CDC employees reportedly reversed
The firings of hundreds of employees at the Centers for Disease Control have been reversed, according to several reports citing officials familiar with the matter, and the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union representing federal workers.
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What else happened today:
Catching up? Here’s what happened on 12 October 2025.
