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Trump, World Leaders Sign Gaza Ceasefire Deal; All Living Hostages Freed After Two Years of Hamas Captivity; Hamas Hands Over Four Coffins With Remains of Deceased Hostages. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired October 13, 2025 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[13:30:00]

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, that has been a recurring theme ever since. It's been very clear that President Trump was seeking the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts here in brokering a ceasefire in the war in Gaza. Obviously, he was not awarded that. But just to kind of give you an example, Brianna, of how many world leaders have brought this up and what we've seen.

On the entrance to Jerusalem today, there was this huge Nobel Peace Prize lookalike coin with President Trump's outline on it. And we also heard from the Israeli opposition leader saying that he believed President Trump should get the Nobel Peace Prize. Prime Minister Netanyahu saying it, the Pakistani Prime Minister there, as they are gathered in Egypt, saying it as well. It is something that many of these world leaders have said to flatter President Trump, to talk about his accomplishments when it comes to the ceasefire that has happened and resulted in the handover of those 20 living hostages from the hands of Hamas today, the first time in over two years that no living hostages have been in the captivity of Hamas.

And now, he's been in Egypt meeting with all these world leaders as they envision what is going to happen next here. What is the future of Gaza as the President was just alluding to there, wealthy countries in terms of the total obliteration of Gaza and rebuilding it and what that step looks like when it comes to this peace plan. And you heard the president mentioning a key tenet of it there, Brianna, when he was talking about disarming Hamas. That has obviously been something that Hamas had rejected. But now that they had signed onto this peace agreement, it was a question of what does that look like going forward.

I will say, we saw that signing ceremony earlier where the key leaders who helped broker this ceasefire were at the table, including leaders from Qatar, from Turkey, from Egypt, obviously the president of the United States there. We're not exactly clear on what it was they signed yet. We've asked for details of what exactly all these world leaders were putting their names on in that moment, and we haven't actually seen any copies of this. So that still remains to be seen because the president was saying it has very specific instructions in terms of what's next.

And there have been a lot of questions about the difficulty and those challenges. So those are questions obviously for the day ahead. But I think one thing that's clear, Brianna, is as much as we've heard from the president today is he's relishing this visit. He got an incredibly warm reception here in Israel from the families of these hostages who had been cheering him even long before he arrived, and certainly you could kind of see he was kind of mobbed as he was getting to Air Force One and leaving from so many people, as he was leaving here in Israel.

And so clearly, this is a day that he has been enjoying and kind of relishing before he leaves here to head back to the White House amid questions of what the next steps for this agreement that the president has proposed as a peace agreement are going to look like.

ERICA HILL, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Kaitlan, thank you. We are also going to bring in Nic Robertson who's joining us from Sharm El Sheikh. And Nic, as you've been watching all of this unfold over the last several days, in this moment, as Kaitlan was just pointing out, there are a lot of questions about what actually was signed and what that means going forward. Despite what we heard from the president, the fact that we don't have the text of that, how important will that be? And are you getting any small details even at this moment as to what was actually in that document?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah, I think the only clues we really have, have been so far in the words of President Trump, and he has talked here about, over the recent days, many leaders have committed to him the money for the rebuilding in Gaza. But the issues are far more complex and thorny. The international stabilization force, the troops that go in, who would they be? What mandate would they have? We've heard numbers 20,000 to 40,000 may be the mandate, their rules of engagement, if you will, if they're shot at, what do they do? Or if there's somebody with a gun who has shot at them, what do they do?

All those things that tend to trap and embroil international peacekeepers in another conflict, and get pulled into the mire of that conflict. I mean, what has been fascinating to watch here and just the president asked for the media to leave the room, but the cameras stayed rolling. And it was President Prabowo Subianto of Indonesia, a sort of a new world leader on the stage, the most numerous Muslim nation in the world. A new president who has sort of long and historic ties in the background through his military career with U.S. forces, they've watched -- United States has kind of watched him move up through the ranks, become president. He seems to be a good ally. He's offering a lot of truce.

But he was really engaging with President Trump at the end. But the looks on the faces of some of the other leaders, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Greek prime minister standing behind President Trump. Next to him, Giorgia Meloni, the Italian Prime Minister. Next to her, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan, who gave the most fulsome praise for President Trump, whose country has just signed significant MOUs for rare earth minerals in Pakistan with the United States, but is in hugely needs United States engagement and involvement in Pakistan, giving fulsome praise for what President Trump has done and ending the four-day war with India. I was in Pakistan at the time, and the U.S. did play a huge role.

[13:35:00]

Next to Shehbaz Sharif, you have Keir Starmer, the British Prime Minister. Next to him, Mark Carney, the Canadian Prime Minister. But I have to say, the looks on their faces, they kind of knew they were on camera. But there were moments in President Trump's speech where they didn't do eye rolls, but they did sort of seem as if 'could we sort of get to the point', and I think that's the point here. The president didn't get to the point of what's in the document and noticeable to me and the president sort of gave them shout outs, Mohammed bin Zayed, the Emir of the UAE, not in the room, his vice president was. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, president Trump said he had a phone call with him, but MBS, as he is known, was not in the room, didn't come to Sharm El Sheikh either. His foreign minister, very capable diplomat, was there.

But the fact that these two are the sort of most powerful, richest, most influential, most advanced leaders in the region who had become deeply, deeply, deeply dug in on the issue of a Palestinian state through this two-year war in Gaza, and had become over the years more and more disinclined and disenchanted with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to the point of figuring this is not an Israeli leader that they can do business with, were not there today. And I think that signals a lot that this is not -- this is far from buttoned up.

The president focusing on the rebuilding rather than the thornier issues, and I get the sense there's a lot, a lot of loose ends here, and it's the momentum to get into that phase of stabilization inside of Gaza, that is one of the key issues. And I do wonder how much of that has actually been nailed down and achieved here. Hopefully we will find out more, but we didn't get it in that speech.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Yeah, President Trump is certainly one, Nic, to concern himself with the larger narrative over the policy minutiae, but that minutia certainly does matter here. And there will be a lot of questions about that now and here in the coming hours and days. Nic Robertson, live for us in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. Thank you.

And ahead, we have much more on today's historic events in the Middle East, including these emotional reunions in Israel. Twin brothers, Ziv and Gali Berman were kidnapped from their home on October 7th. They were among the first to be released today.

HILL: This was the moment their helicopter flew over Hostages Square.

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HILL: You hear the cheers there erupting for the brothers. So this was of course, on their way to an Israeli hospital. We also have images for you from inside that helicopter. See them blowing kisses, smiling. They have a sign that reads the nation of Israel is alive. Thank you for everything.

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HILL: The Breaking News just moments ago, Israeli authorities have said Hamas has now handed over four coffins with the remains of deceased hostages, those being handed over to the Red Cross.

KEILAR: That happened as President Trump and other world leaders were here signing a historic Gaza ceasefire deal. The president declaring this a new beginning for the entire Middle East. We have CNN's Becky Anderson, who is at the summit where the signing happened. Becky, tell us what you were able to see and certainly you've been listening to the president here. Tell us what stood out to you.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: Yep. I've got to be completely transparent about this. I've been out in the mix for a couple of hours because we were actually promised some access into that signing. That didn't happen in the end. So I've been hovering in the room next door. So we are here at the site of this summit, this -- which is officially called the Sharm El Sheikh Summit for Peace, positioned as an agreement to end the war in Gaza.

That agreement today signed just in the past hour by Donald Trump and the three key mediators and guarantors of the ceasefire deal, that being the U.S., Qatar, Turkey and Egypt, Egypt, of course, co-hosting this summit with Donald Trump. And a couple of things have struck me here and whilst I've been listening to Donald Trump, both in Israel before he arrived here today and even on the flight on the way over, Donald Trump, and he said this out loud, is as far as he is concerned, he says, he is convinced, he is sure that this war in Gaza at least is over.

And he sees this as the opportunity now for peace in the Middle East. He talks about a new dawn for the Middle East, the end of terror in the Middle East. And I can tell you that for those leaders gathered in the room today, so the guarantors in the first instance, other representatives and leaders from regional countries, although there were some notable absentees as far as leaders are concerned. But those from the region, from Europe and other world leaders gathered to here, would agree that they want to see beyond this conflict and they want to see the end of conflict and an opportunity for economic integration, and a road forward for this region.

[13:45:00]

So the second thing that struck me was that Donald Trump repeatedly talked about the wealth in the room today. He said, you've got the wealthiest countries in the world convening. You can't imagine the wealth in the room. And he is right to point out that those who are in the room represent some, I don't know, say $30 trillion. I had my producer do the math on this. About $30 trillion of GDP, add the U.S. into that, that's another (inaudible) $30 trillion. And so, you are looking at more than 50 percent of the world's wealth.

Donald Trump's point about that is that they have committed to rebuilding, as he says, building because the place is flattened. Gaza, the reconstruction of Gaza, Donald Trump's language and this is where the statecraft we see today and what we've seen in the buildup to this is completely different to anything that we've seen before. This is the language of business and the language of sort of transactions. Like it or not, that is the way that it is.

So when he talks about that wealth in the room, his point is that these countries are supporting and committing to an end to the war in Gaza and a wider Middle East peace. And again, there isn't a country in the room today who doesn't want to see that. But the devil is in the detail here. I spoke to the Egyptian foreign Minister earlier on today, ahead of Donald Trump arriving here. And I said, what's -- what are the expectations going into this summit. We had of course seen those wonderful images, I mean images, heartwarming images of the hostages being released and for the Palestinians, the prisoners being released. The guns are silent at present.

So I asked him, what are the expectations for this summit? Now, what's the choreography here? And the Egyptian foreign minister told me, very simply, this is about maintaining momentum and ensuring that Donald Trump continues to be engaged in this process. Everybody here and around this region is applauding Donald Trump's efforts. You'd be hard pressed to find somebody who would say that this isn't a Trump win here. This isn't Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, and those that Donald Trump has been naming today from his team.

They pulled off an historic agreement here to get a ceasefire and get these hostages released and in exchange for these Palestinian prisoners. But it is what happens next. I don't want to suggest that the easy part is done because getting a ceasefire deal and the hostages released was really tough, but it's the next stage, which is going to be really difficult. And to that end, the third thing that struck me today was that we don't have the detail in this agreement.

We do not know what was agreed to today. Although Donald Trump insists what was in that document is more comprehensive than, I guess, what he's alluding to is the 20-point plan that we saw, which was really a roadmap to a future at this point. One person described to me, one regional diplomat described to me that we are flying a plane whilst trying to build it. This is really now about the detail and the implementation of a plan, if this is to hold and if we are to see the potential for peace in the Middle East.

That is an aspiration and a vision that this region wants, people around this region are committed and wedded to. But it is going to be about the implementation at this point. If these countries can navigate a new Middle East, they need to see economic integration and the end to conflict. And they are prepared to invest. There's no doubt about that. But the detail and the implementation of this is going to be tough.

So President Trump is convinced that the war, as far as he is concerned, the war in Gaza is over. And this is a summit about peace in the Middle East. I think most people here would suggest that this is a summit about ending the war in Gaza, detail of which is yet to be worked out. And then, what happens next as far as peace in the Middle East. The last thing that struck me, and I'm just going to leave it there, is Donald Trump did four victory laps today, at the Knesset, at the signing, in the bilateral with the President Sisi, and in the remarks that he just made.

Most people will say he deserves those victory laps, but they were victory laps at this point. I think it's important to point that out. Back to you guys.

[13:50:00]

HILL: Yeah, Becky, really appreciate it and so important to have those observations. Thank you. We're also joined now by Brett McGurk and Colonel Cedric Leighton. As we look at all this, just picking up where Becky left off, the real question, right? We talk about the victory lapse, and President Trump should be taking a victory lap. This is an incredible accomplishment. Now, the real hard work, the nitty-gritty, the details are what we need to learn.

So Brett, how much of that could potentially be happening in this meeting in terms of sitting down and saying, OK, I will do this. I will commit to that.

BRETT MCGURK, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: First. Erica, I don't want to lose sight of what's happened here today. I mean, 20 hostages who were in tunnels for almost 740 days are with their families. It's extraordinary. The war in Gaza has stopped. The guns are silent. This is an extraordinary day.

Now, the work of what comes next in that 20-point plan is extremely complex. And I listened to what the president just said. Of course, that was a broad speech. The details now, who is in this interim security force? You have to contribute forces. You're going to need a force of about 40,000 troops. I mean, we did this with -- CENTCOM helped organize, the Central Command. We'll have U.S. forces outside of Gaza. But you have to have troop contributors. You have to have resource contributors for reconstruction. Who's going to contribute what? What is the fund by which those resources are distributed?

Who leads that? Who organizes it? Who is on the political entity to help with the governance structure of Gaza? These are complicated questions. And you have a summit like that to start to give the shape of that. I didn't expect to hear that in the president's speech, but I hope behind the scenes and a lot of the senior advisers are working on that. I know Brad Cooper, the Commander of CENTCOM, he'll be working to put some troop contributors together. But I've built coalitions in the past, it is complicated, very hard work.

Rules of engagement, every capital has different laws for how to deploy their military forces outside their borders. It is complicated. And so, that hard work has to begin now. But I just -- I don't want to lose sight of where we are and what happened today. It's extraordinary. And it's a huge step forward. And the president, Steve Witkoff, Jared did a tremendous job and -- but a lot of work to do.

KEILAR: Yeah. And he is characterizing this, President Trump, as a peace deal. That does certainly raise the bar, I think, and also expectations and also the chance of failure to achieve that. But if we do pull back and look at where we are today, this ceasefire deal, I mean, Cedric, I wonder, and we're looking at live pictures of President Trump boarding Air Force one there in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

I wonder how you are reflecting on this moment because I have to tell you, I have been holding my breath since this was announced, fearful that something would fall apart and this protracted heartbreak that we have witnessed in this region for over two years was going to continue.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yeah. Brianna, this is one of the key elements here, is that danger of heartbreak. And one of those things that we have to always look at is, what could possibly go wrong. And so from an intelligence officer's perspective, I look at this, what could happen next? What is -- what is the possible bad thing that could happen? We absolutely -- Brett is absolutely right. We have to savor the moment in essence for the hostages.

But here's what might happen next. And this is one of the key things to think about. We have a situation where Hamas is already moving forward into areas of Gaza that Israel is not occupying currently. So Israel occupies about 53 percent of the Gaza Strip at the moment. They withdrew from previous positions. One of the key elements, of course, is what happens with possible peacekeeping forces.

It's very difficult to bring them in if there are ongoing hostilities. And right now, what we're seeing is that Hamas is engaging with members of Gaza clans that helped Israel, and they're not engaging peacefully. They are killing people right now. So, there is a problem of moving these people apart from each other. If you bring in peacekeeping forces, one of the key elements, people might wonder why the Indonesians are there.

Indonesia is a large country, about 283 million people. They have a long history of being part of peacekeeping missions. Their Garuda Division is -- that's their mission actually. It's a combination of military and police forces. They can move up to about 20,000 troops into an area. Now, do they have that capability right now? Probably not, because the core unit is about 2,000 people. But they have pledged that they could get up to 20,000 in there.

So there'll be about half of what Brett was talking about. That would be basically, in my view, a minimum of what's needed for Gaza. But this is a critical moment. And yes, savor the moment, but remember to prepare for tomorrow. And tomorrow means the possibility of conflict and the possibility of moving people apart forcefully.

HILL: I think you also set up to the challenge here in terms of the clock is ticking, right? When we look at what is happening with Hamas in this moment, and you look at the need for a political structure to run this Gaza -- to run Gaza.

[13:55:00]

But how much of a challenge is that and how much would you imagine is already in the works to try to get that set? Because this is such a time-sensitive issue.

MCGURK: So, it's important, Hamas throughout the negotiations, throughout the talks with them, had one demand they never budged on. They would be the only security force in Gaza. They rejected Palestinian security forces. They rejected any idea of an international security force. They would accept a political umbrella above Gaza, but they would be the force with guns because they want to control the population. And Trump's 20-point plan and he reaffirmed it today, there needs to be a demilitarized Gaza and Hamas needs to disarm.

Now what's important is that the whole Arab and Muslim, all the Muslim majority countries are now behind that. That's very important, that isolates Hamas. But right now, the only two armed forces in Gaza are Hamas. There's a line drawn, Hamas and the Israeli forces. So until that changes, Hamas is the force with the guns able to control the population, intimidate, kill Palestinians. And until that changes, it's hard to see the prospect for an actual path to peace, let alone two states. I mean, Hamas is a massive obstacle here.

Now, I'm hopeful that you have Pakistan, Turkey, Qatar, Egypt obviously, going to put pressure on Hamas to fulfill their obligations. But this will be a long road and you're going to have to have that alternative security force. So, you'll see this unfold here over the weeks and months. But it's hard work. And I hope behind the scenes, we saw a lot of symmetry there, a lot of show biz, but behind the scenes, a lot of hard work has to get done.

KEILAR: And what does that look like? Adding more troops to that.

LEIGHTON: Yeah, that's really the big logistical challenge, for one thing, it's also an operational challenge. You have to get them in between the lines in essence. So right now, we have that yellow line that we often see on the maps that shows the demarcation between the Israeli forces and Hamas. That line would probably be the line where the troops go in, any peacekeeping forces would go in and you'd have a situation potentially like what you see in Lebanon, where there's an area of Lebanon, at least there was an area of Lebanon, like along the Litani River that would be similar to what you'd see then in Gaza.

So the idea would be put those troops in there and then have them fan out from there. But it would require a lot of coordination and that coordination cell of 200 U.S. troops plus others, allies, in that command center in essence, they're going to be real busy coordinating all of that and also de-conflicting not just among themselves, but with Hamas and with the Israelis.

KEILAR: Yeah. Very complex. Colonel, Brett, thank you so much to both of you. We have much more on this historic day in the Middle East, a ceasefire deal ending the conflict in Gaza. We have the latest on what is next for the region after a quick break. Stay with "CNN News Central."

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