- Red Cross en route to pick up several more hostages
Released hostages Matan Angrest, brothers Gali and Ziv Berman, Alon Ohel, Eitan Mor, Omri Miran, and Guy Gilboa-Dalal have arrived at an IDF facility near the border community of Re’im after being escorted out of the Gaza Strip by troops, the military says.
The seven will undergo an initial physical and mental checkup at the army site, and meet family members.
The crowd at Hostages Square cheers as US President Donald Trump alights Air Force One at Ben Gurion Airport, and again when the emcee here relays a Shin Bet and IDF statement saying the seven returning hostages were meeting their parents in Israel.
Minutes earlier, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared via newscast on the big screen at Hostages Square in anticipation for Trump, an emcee preemptively shut down any jeering.
“We’re decent, we’re thinking hostages, not right, not left — straight,” she says.
On Saturday night, Netanyahu’s allies excoriated the crowd at the square that booed when White House special envoy Steve Witkoff said the premier’s name while speaking here.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump is on his way to the Knesset in Jerusalem, riding in his armored Presidential vehicle, known as The Beast, together with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara.
Before getting in the car, Trump greeted his daughter Ivanka, and then spoke with her husband Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff, all of whom met him upon his arrival.
Earlier on arrival, with the red carpet rolled out and a military band playing, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog and their spouses welcome US President Donald Trump to Israel.
Trump emerges from Air Force One alone, pumps his fist and smiles, then descends the boarding stairs.
He shakes Herzog’s hand first, then puts his hand on Netanyahu’s shoulder. He speaks at length with Herzog, Netanyahu and their spouses in what appears to be a relaxed and friendly conversation as the band plays.
Trump then converses with his ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and Israeli envoy to Washington Yechiel Leiter as Netanyahu looks on.
Written with reports from The Times of Israel
