US President Donald Trump boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, taking off for Israel ahead of the hostage releases tomorrow and a multinational summit in Egypt on ending the war in Gaza, attended by many Western, Muslim and Arab countries, but not Israel.
“Everybody’s very excited about this moment in time. This is a very special event,” he tells reporters before entering the plane.
“There are 500,000 people yesterday and today in Israel,” he says, presumably referring to a mass rally for the hostages last night in Tel Aviv at which US Middle East Special Envoy Steve Witkoff spoke and was applauded. The organizers of the rally claimed half a million attended.
“And also, the Muslim and Arab countries are all cheering. Everybody’s cheering at one time. That’s never happened before,” Trump says. “Usually, if you have one cheering, the other isn’t. This is the first time everybody is amazed, and they’re thrilled, and it’s an honor to be involved, and we’re gonna have an amazing time, and it’s gonna be something that’s never happened before.”
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From the Liveblog of
Monday, October 13, 2025
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