On Monday, Israelis expressed cautious optimism about US President Donald Trump’s plan to release all hostages held in Gaza and end the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas that has lasted nearly two years.

In the coastal city of Tel Aviv, protesters raised the American and Israeli flags and held signs with pictures of hostages held in Gaza since Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

Hana Cohen, the aunt of hostage Anbar Haimen whose body is held in Gaza, said, “I am more optimistic, although I am still a little afraid I may be overestimating.”

She added, “I fear feeling disappointed again, really afraid because we have suffered a lot from agreements that ended in failure and exploded in our faces.”

The months of war witnessed several rounds of indirect negotiations that failed to achieve a lasting ceasefire agreement.

Gal Gorin, who lost his parents during the October 7 attack, was cautious in expressing hope, telling AFP: “We are trying to be optimistic today… We were very happy to hear what Trump said. We were happy because he turned to us and heard our calls to end this war and bring back all the hostages.”

The Hamas attack resulted in the death of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.

During the attack, 251 people were kidnapped; 47 remain held, including 25 who died according to the Israeli army.

At least 66,055 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in Gaza due to the Israeli military campaign launched after the attack, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.

The plan published by the White House calls for an immediate ceasefire and the release of all hostages held in Gaza within 72 hours of Israel’s public approval of the agreement, followed by Israel releasing Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences.

It also stipulates that Gaza be disarmed and governed by a transitional committee composed of Palestinian technocrats and international experts under a board chaired by Trump, with no role whatsoever for Hamas.

Hamas received the plan text from the Qatari and Egyptian mediators, according to an official who spoke to AFP.

The source, who wished to remain anonymous, said that Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Egyptian General Intelligence Director Mahmoud Rashad “just met with Hamas negotiators and handed them the twenty-point plan,” adding that Hamas negotiators will study the plan “in good faith” and respond to it.

The Israeli Hostages Families Forum praised Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza on Monday evening, calling it “historic” and urging international pressure on Hamas to approve it.

The forum said in a statement: “This is a historic agreement that will allow our people to recover, end the war, and draw a new future for the Middle East,” praising Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approval of the plan.

The statement added: “The world must exert maximum pressure to ensure Hamas’s commitment to this historic opportunity for peace.”