TRUMP BASKS IN THE MIDEAST

His ceasefire brings praise from all sides, but the underlying conflict remains.

- BY MICHAEL WILNER

IN ISRAEL, Rom Breslavski, top, one of the 20 living hostages freed by Hamas, arrives Monday by helicopter at a medical center in Ramat Gan. In Gaza, some of the more than 1,900 Palestinians released by Israel arrive by bus in Khan Yunis.

JEHAD ALSHRAFI Associated Press

Summoned last minute by the president of the United States, the world's most powerful leaders dropped their schedules to fly to Egypt on Monday, where they idled on a stage awaiting Donald Trump's grand entrance.

They were there to celebrate a significant U.S. diplomatic achievement that has ended hostilities in Gaza after two brutal years of war. But really, they were there for Trump, who took a victory lap for brokering what he called the “greatest deal of them all.”

“Together we've achieved what everyone said was impossible, but at long last, we have peace in the Middle East,” Trump told gathered presidents, sheikhs, prime ministers and emirs, arriving in Egypt after addressing the Knesset in Israel. “Nobody thought it could ever get there, and now we're there.

“Now, the rebuilding begins—the rebuilding is maybe going to be the easiest part,” Trump said. “I think we've done a lot of the hardest part, because the rest comes together. We all know how to rebuild, and we know how to build better than anybody in the world.”

The achievement of a ceasefire in Gaza has earned Trump praise from across the political aisle and from U.S. friends and foes around the world, securing an elusive peace that officials hope will endure long enough to provide space for a wider settlement of Mideast tensions.