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Trump, World Leaders Sign Gaza Ceasefire Deal; Hamas Frees Final 20 Living Hostages After Two Years; Trump Celebrates Ceasefire, Hails "Dawn Of A New Middle East". Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired October 13, 2025 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:00]

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And it did from the beginning, and I've heard for years this is the biggest deal that'll never happen. For years, long before I ran for office, that this is the Middle East. It's the biggest, most complicated deal, and also it's the place that could lead to tremendous problems like World War III.

They always talked about World War III would start in the Middle East, and that's not going to happen. We don't want it to start anywhere, actually, but it's not going to happen. So I just want to thank everybody, and I'll see you in a little while.

And in particular, thank you all. Thank you, Tamim. Mr. General, thank you very much. Thank you very much. Great job. Great job.

Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: OK.

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: OK. Let's get back to Kaitlan. He was just wrapping up with some of the things we heard him say time and time again as he's had microphones throughout the day, Kaitlan. But again, just the importance, I mentioned the imagery, and then, of course, the substance, which is, we believe, as you said, signing on to this 20- point deal, which even though we don't know what is going to really come next, what's going to take hold, just the idea of all of these people in one room, in Sharm El Sheikh, signing on to any document is a very big deal.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR, THE SOURCE: Yes, and this is something that Steve Witkoff, one of the president's top aides, hammered out the details of what those 20 points were going to look like. I mean, we saw draft versions where small things were changed or some points were entirely crossed out as they were working on this.

And the President joked before he left here in Israel that, you know, given how late he was, maybe these world leaders would leave and they wouldn't wait on him to sign these documents. He showed up more than four hours late, Dana, but obviously they are all still there, including the ones who helped broker the seal at the table, leaders from Qatar, from Egypt, from Turkey, sitting with the President, as they were the ones who helped really get this deal over the line last week when the President came out on Thursday and confirmed that the ceasefire had been agreed to.

And, obviously, we saw it take place and then leading to that culmination with the 20 hostages who are still alive being released from Hamas's captivity today for the first time in over two years. And while certainly there are many steps ahead with the rest of what this plan that the President has envisioned and that he has gotten these other world leaders to sign on to looks like, one thing that he was referencing there is that there's been moments before where someone was unhappy with an agreement or someone didn't like part of it.

The President feels like he is accomplished in this, where at least there are leaders from the Arab world --

BASH: Yes.

COLLINS: -- in agreement with this and as they have been pushing for it. I still think there are questions, as we heard Prime Minister Netanyahu say earlier, he is committed to this peace. Exactly what that's going to look like, because there are parts in this peace deal that Netanyahu doesn't agree with, including the formation eventually of a Palestinian state, something that he was just ruling out, Dana, a month ago when he was in New York.

And so obviously a lot of things to watch closely here. But the President clearly emboldened by today and relishing in this moment of what was a huge foreign policy goal of his when he reentered the Oval Office.

BASH: Yes, and it has been a foreign policy goal for president for decades. Obviously this time is very different because there was very much a hot war and that has now for the time being and hopefully for a very long time has come to an end.

Kaitlan, thank you so much for being here. Appreciate it.

Now to my panel. Kim Dozier, I'm going to start with you because let's talk about why all of those world leaders together at that summit signing on to this is so critical for what happens next, because Hamas is certainly degraded --

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Yes.

BASH: -- but they're not gone. We are already getting reports of some violence inside Gaza. And this has to do with Hamas going after those who dared to sort of speak up against them during -- while the war was going on. And in order for something to stick, all of the people in that room have to have skin in the game. I don't mean troops --

DOZIER: Yes.

BASH: -- but effort with economic aid and at least using their power to make something happen.

DOZIER: Yes. Look, I can walk you through chapter and verse all of the reasons why this will probably fall apart very soon.

BASH: Let's not do that.

DOZIER: But what President Trump is trying to do in that room with that peace 2025 banner is bind everyone together into this promise that we are all going to use our influence, our nation state power to make this happen. It is also a signal to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu that you will not annex Gaza.

Your troops may never leave this buffer zone, but you're not going to make Gaza part of Israel. So it's a dual message. And it also hopefully creates the momentum that pushes people over the line on some of the hard questions like, who's going to give their troops to go into this dangerous buffer area --

BASH: And that's the key (ph).

DOZIER: -- where they might be under fire from Gaza, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, or caught in between this intraday sign warfare between warring Palestinian factions that's now breaking out.

[12:35:19]

FRANKLIN FOER, STAFF WRITER, THE ATLANTIC: There are a long list of reasons to be pessimistic is extremely long. But there are certain fundamental things in place right now that should give us real genuine reasons to feel like something is possible. I mean for starters, Iran is severely weakened and Iran was the force that made Hamas possible, that made Hezbollah possible.

Israel has very good reason to feel self-confident right now as it enters into these negotiations because it has demonstrated its superiority in the region. I think back to the 1990s and what happened that made peace possible, a peace process possible then. So you had the collapse of the Soviet Union, much like the collapse of Iran.

You had an American president who was much more popular than any Israeli politician in Israel. Trump is able to speak over the heads of the Israelis and he gives them an incredible amount of confidence --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

FOER: -- that he has their back.

BASH: I mean just look at one example of if you were sleeping and you weren't up to see this or haven't seen it on social media, just one example of what happened inside the crowds on the streets of Israel when President Trump was there earlier today.

The crowds all thanking him. I think we have that to play. Let's play it now.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

TRUMP: After two harrowing years in darkness and captivity, 20 courageous hostages -- BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Thank you, President

Trump, for that.

CROWD: Thank you, Trump! Thank you, Trump! Thank you, Trump!

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BASH: So that's -- I mean, that's an example and all night last night you saw lots of signs and banners thanking President Trump for that. You mentioned Iran and I think that's --

FOER: Yes.

BASH: -- and I'm going to bring you in, Kristen, to talk more about the President. But the fact that he talked several times, as he's been in front of microphones since last night, about Iran and about maybe wanting or thinking that Iran is going to change. I mean we'll see. But what's at the heart of this is that Iran has been the chief sponsor of Hamas, of Hezbollah.

And so he needs and the world needs Iran to continue to be on its heels in order to fully topple Hamas and Hezbollah. And so that's clearly what that was part of.

FOER: Well and there is this coalition of Sunni states that was in the front row --

BASH: Right.

FOER: -- of that. And they were the ones who were able to ultimately really put the squeeze on Hamas. Because Iran is out of the picture as far as Hamas is concerned or it's been minimized. And you have Turkey and you have Qatar. And they reached this collective decision that they needed to squeeze Hamas and force Hamas into this deal.

And they will continue to have that kind of leverage over Hamas. It's not perfect because Hamas isn't -- they're not Hamas' masters. But Trump needs those strongmen. It was a strongman's performance to an audience of strongmen that we just witnessed in Sharm El Sheikh. And I think that gives him the momentum.

BASH: And he, President Trump, is -- to keep your analogy going, the chief strongman there in the middle with the big chair.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And I do think that one thing to note here, you know, we're talking a lot about these different strongmen. We're talking a lot about the reason why we might be pessimistic versus optimistic. But if you want to side on the side of optimism, you would look at what President Trump has done in this negotiation that leaders before never did which was engaging in places like Qatar, engaging with Erdogan.

For various reasons whether you think they should or shouldn't, there's been reluctance to engage with any of these parties. I mean, as we know, obviously, Hamas was in Qatar as recently as the strike. So that was one of the reasons that leaders never wanted to engage. But the fact that he's willing to kind of put some of this aside to move forward in a different direction shows you that this is a different kind of negotiation space that we are entering. And again, whether you like it or not, at this point as you're mentioning with Erdogan and Qatar, I mean, it's helping with that process.

BASH: Yes. And there's no question that the word that I've heard all morning is there's a reason for it is the word momentum. And that's what you're referring to is that they just want to keep this momentum going.

We do have so much more on this historic moment ahead. And as we go to break we want to look at one of the human moments when one of the hostages, Bar Kuperstein, was reunited with his father. When Bar was taken hostage by Hamas in October -- on October 7th, his father couldn't walk or talk after a car crash.

[12:40:06]

Now, he got the ability with the will and the practice while his son was in captivity to stand up and hug him.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

(Speaking in Foreign Language)

(END VIDEOCLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:45:00]

BASH: We are awaiting remarks from President Trump in Egypt now for a summit on Gaza's future. He will address 20 global leaders including the president of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas. President Trump says he believes it's the dawn of a new era in the Middle East. There are many questions about what comes next about whether that dawn is really here.

No better person to talk about that with than Dan Senor. He is a former Defense Department official under President George W. Bush. The co-author of the two books on Israel and the host of the very popular podcast, Call Me Back.

Thank you so much for being here, Dan. Let's start with --

DAN SENOR, FORMER SENIOR DEFENSE DEPT. OFFICIAL UNDER PRES. GEORGE W. BUSH: Good to be with you.

BASH: -- President Trump talking about this historic dawn of a new Middle East. It's a good day. The bombs have stopped dropping in Gaza. The hostages are all home. We're also realists. So how do you see this going forward?

SENOR: I have two reactions. One is as you say the war has stopped and I have a lot of questions and a lot of concerns about how the 20-point plan will be implemented. But whatever concerns I have from Israel's perspective, they are mollified to some degree by the fact that the IDF is still in Gaza and still in 53 percent of Gaza. It still has a lot of -- Israel still has a lot of leverage. It still has a lot of options.

If the implementation of these details go in a direction that is worrisome and alarming to Israel, Israel, Israel is not just like giving up its security advantage now that it has in Gaza. So that's one thing to keep in mind.

The second thing to keep in mind which I think speaks to President Trump and the administration's entire approach to the last few weeks which is over the last two years, every time there has been progress and then Hamas -- and everyone seemed to be aligned. Israel seemed to be aligned. The U.S. seemed to be aligned and Hamas would say yes but, they'd say yes but, and everyone would focus on the but, and say, oh no, the but is the deal killer, the but. And that's why this is not going to happen.

And what I think happened here is that the Trump administration so shook up the chessboard by saying we're not going to do this -- play this game anymore with phase, you know, phase withdrawals, phase hostages being released, the hostages being trickled out over a long period of time. The only deal that can happen is all the hostages --

BASH: Right.

SENOR: -- at once at the beginning of a deal.

BASH: Exactly.

SENOR: That was like unprecedented. Even I thought this will never happen. And Hamas said, yes but. And instead of focusing on the but, what Trump did is say, he grabbed the yes. He banged the yes and said we'll deal with the details later. We'll figure out the but and more, but just grabbing the yes.

And you see a lot of business negotiations, the diplomatic negotiations that you grab on to some momentum --

BASH: Yes.

SENOR: -- even if it's not complete, even it doesn't get you the totality of you want and you just say, OK, I'm going to grab this momentum and opportunity and momentum beget further opportunity moment --

BASH: No question.

SENOR: -- and he stayed (ph) upon.

BASH: He grabbed the yes --

SENOR: Well, I have concerns here --

BASH: Go ahead. SENOR: Go ahead.

BASH: Go ahead, Dan.

SENOR: Oh yes. You know, so he grabbed the yes and I think that's what he's articulating today is like, yes, there's still a lot that's unanswered here and there's still a lot to fill out but he's going to keep grabbing the yeses and dealing with the details later. And I'm not sure that's a bad strategy. I mean certainly it was a big factor in getting to where we are today.

BASH: The question is he grabbed the yes and he sort of steamrolled over the butt to continue your imagery here. The question is, how is he going to keep that momentum going. Lindsey Graham who is a big supporter of the President, a big supporter of Israel put out a statement certainly applauding the President and everything that has happened to get to this point.

But he also said that he had, "A word of caution. As I speak, Hamas is attacking groups that have stood up to them and will purge all opposition if a regional stabilizing force is not deployed quickly. Disarming Hamas and making sure they never have a voice in the future of Gaza is going to require efforts by the region never known before."

That is really the key which is why the imagery from just earlier in this hour of the President in Egypt with all of, not all of, most of the key players in the region and in Europe there is just the whole ballgame.

SENOR: Yes. And the real question is, will governments from the Arab world, the Emiratis, the Egyptians, the -- I mean whoever else is going to be --

BASH: Saudis.

SENOR: -- in Gaza. Here's the real question -- Saudis. Here's the real uncomfortable question that no one wants to talk about right now. Are they willing to risk their lives, risk the lives of their citizens serving in Gaza, right?

[12:50:02]

Because the IDF can't do this, obviously, as has been articulated for the implementation of the 20-point plan. So it's going to have to be these other governments. So who -- are these governments going to be the ones sending forces into Gaza as part of this stabilization force to for instance disarm Hamas?

Who's going to go door to door and take the Kalashnikovs out of young Hamas members' hands? Who's going to go searching for the RPG launchers in these places? And to do so is to risk your life in the moment nationals, foreign nationals, nationals from places like Egypt and potentially Saudi, the Emiratis, the Emirates start dying?

Will these governments have the appetite to stay in Gaza for the sake of the gods and Palestinians, who, let's be honest, these governments have never really cared that much about?

BASH: No.

SENOR: So I do think that's where it does get really complicated. I think Lindsay's right to focus on this issue. The disarmament issue in particular is one that I'm especially concerned about.

BASH: Yes. And I should say that the Egyptian President El-Sisi is speaking right now. We expect him to introduce President Trump as we wait for that to happen. I mean based on what you know about the Arab world, the one that the President has referred to several times -- you know what, I'm going to interrupt myself, Dan, and we're going to go to President Trump.

Thanks for being here. Let's listen.

(APPLAUSE)

PRESIDENT ABDEL FATTAH EL-SISI, EGYPT (through translation): I would like to express our profound appreciation to your excellency at this critical circumstance reflected in your proposed plan for ending this tragic war during which humanity incurred significant losses. I would like to thank our partners in the United States, Turkey, and Qatar for their dedicated efforts.

And I reiterate our support and aspiration to the execution of this plan creating the essential political horizon for the implementation of the two-state solution. For it is the only pathway to the fulfillment of the legitimate ambition of both Palestinian and Israeli peoples turning over the conflict page and safely live.

Excellency, President. You have demonstrated that genuine leadership doesn't mean war waging rather the ability to bring it to a halt. We trust your leadership that is capable to carry out the current deal and to execute your entire stage of the plan.

Excellency, President. Let Gaza war be the last of wars in the Middle East. Majesties, excellences, and highnesses. Egypt launched a peace trajectory in the Middle East nearly half a century ago specifically in November 1977 when the late President Anwar Sadat, may God shower him with his mercy, took unprecedented steady moves in the history of the region and initiated the historic visit to Jerusalem.

Since that moment, Egypt has established a new era --

BASH: OK, it looked like President Trump was making his way over to the microphone, as we do wait for that to happen. Kimberly Dozier, your thoughts on where we go from here?

DOZIER: Well, the arm twisting is going to have to happen with the Israelis to allow the Palestinian Authority to go in and retake Gaza. They are the force that is willing to do this and the U.S. military has trained Palestinian Authority special operations forces to do this kind of operation.

I'm sure that's the message that Arab leaders are going to give because they'd much rather have Palestinians policing other Palestinians than put their forces in this fight.

BASH: And the problem with that is that Mahmoud Abbas, who is the head of the PA, the Palestinian Authority, who was there unlike Prime Minister Netanyahu, who was invited and then said he didn't want to go because of a Jewish holiday, but he's definitely traveled on Jewish holidays before. There are definitely other political reasons --

FOER: Yes.

BASH: -- that he's not there. Having said that, there's not a lot of trust across the political spectrum inside Israel. Never mind in the White House and in other Western countries that the PA is up to the task here.

FOER: Right. I think sitting in the top desk or a lot of people in the National Security Council and the State Department and all of these Arab countries are plans for reforming the PA which is a very difficult thing to do because it is corrupt. And a lot of these different countries that we've been talking about have favored factions within the PA that they would like to install.

[12:55:02]

This is a place where if the United States chose to take a leadership role, it would be possible to I think get to a different generation of leadership in the PA. One that was willing to do some of the hard things that Abbas has been unwilling to do. Then there's this question of the Israelis.

And in private, Benjamin Netanyahu has told, you know, American diplomats for a very long time that he's willing to go to this place of embarking on the pathway of Palestinian statehood. But what he says in public and what he says in private are very, very different questions.

And then that gets to this other question of what happens in Israeli politics. Because there's going to be an election that's down the road.

BASH: Right.

FOER: And the possibility for a different coalition that would be --

BASH: inside Israel.

DOZIER (?): Yes.

BASH: Without Benjamin Netanyahu.

Dan Senor, I think you're still there. Want to bring you back in.

SENOR: I am.

BASH: Good. Weigh in on this question of who should or could -- maybe not should, that's a whole different question -- who could realistically take over inside Gaza to make it a habitable, viable place that isn't run by people who are, you know, just focused on wanting to annihilate Israel and not protect the innocent civilians who are living in their midst.

SENOR: So there are various clans and families and leaders who've emerged over the years who've emerged over the last few months. It's -- the question is can they build critical mass without getting slaughtered. And the -- you know, from Israeli military planners and policymakers I've spoken to over -- since October 7th, the question has always been, you know, will there be enough security and stability on the ground in Gaza for these actors to step up and stick their necks out and not risk being slaughtered.

And so unless that space is created for them, there's no way it's going to happen. There are people (INAUDIBLE). You're even seeing the images out of Gaza. You're seeing this mass slaughtering, well this public execution of Gaza and Palestinians who they deemed were collaborating with Israel or were not sufficiently loyal to Hamas or were supporting the aid distribution that was independent of Hamas control whatever it may be.

So it -- until you have basic security, until you have basic stability in Gaza, it's impossible to assess whether or not there are these pockets that have emerged of opposition -- of an alternative to Hamas that could actually turn into something broader than pockets because those don't have a shot at turning into broader than pockets if they're going to get killed.

BASH: I was talking to a Republican lawmaker earlier today who said just point blank who had been -- has been around a long time who said nation building is really hard and nobody's very good at it. Dan, I don't want to bring up a sore subject but you did spend some time in Iraq, you know, first hand --

SENOR: This is our subject.

BASH: It's --

SENOR: Yes.

BASH: But this is totally different. This is totally different. And this is a situation where you do have the -- there are power players in the region -- take President Trump out of it -- there are power players in the region who have deep pockets. If they want to, you know, stick their necks out and say, OK, we're going to have the will. As you said, it's -- hasn't been there for a long time.

I mean -- oop. Go ahead, Dan. Start talking and I'll interrupt you -- the President -- well, let's see. Is he talking?

SENOR: We'll find out.

BASH: OK. I'm going to go to the President now. Dan, thank you.

TRUMP: Well, thank you very much. And that was a great honor. I appreciate it very much, Mr. President, Mr. General, Mr. President. Great general, great president. Thank you very much. This is the day that people across the region and around the world have been working, striving, hoping, and praying for. They have done things over the last month that I think were really unthinkable. Nobody thought this could happen.

With the historic agreement we've just signed, those prayers of millions have finally been answered. As you know, the hostages have been returned and further work goes on having to do with the sadly to say bodies. Together we've achieved what everybody said was impossible.

At long last, we have peace in the Middle East. And it's a very simple expression, peace in the Middle East. And we've heard it for many years but nobody thought it could ever get there. And now we're there. I want to congratulate everybody sitting in these first few rows and standing behind me.

I don't know why they chose to stand, but I promise I'll make it short, OK? We are not going to keep you standing for long. These are great leaders.

After years of suffering and bloodshed, the war in Gaza is over. Humanitarian aid is now pouring in including hundreds of truckloads of food, medical equipment, and other supplies much of it paid for by people in this room. Civilians are returning to their homes. The hostages are --