US President Donald Trump declared “the historic dawn of the new Middle East” in a triumphant address before the Knesset on Monday, as the final 20 living hostages were released from Gaza under the US-brokered ceasefire deal.

Trump said it marked “not only the end of war, but the end of an age of terror and death and the beginning of the age of faith and hope and of God.”

He told the lawmakers that Israel had no more to achieve on the battlefield, and must work toward peace in the Middle East, and said he would deliver a similar message to regional leaders in Egypt later in the day.

The president pressed Israel to look past the war, saying it had achieved all it can “by force of arms.”

“You’ve won. I mean, you’ve won,” he said. “Now it is time to translate these victories against terrorists on the battlefield into the ultimate prize of peace and prosperity for the entire Middle East.”

Trump promised to help rebuild Gaza and urged Palestinians to “turn forever from the path of terror and violence.”

“After tremendous pain and death and hardship,” he said, “now is the time to concentrate on building their people up instead of trying to tear Israel down.”

Trump even made a gesture to Iran, where he bombed three nuclear sites during the country’s brief war with Israel earlier this year, by saying “the hand of friendship and cooperation is always open.”

“We merely want to live in peace,” he said. “We don’t want any looming threats over our heads.”

He said it would be great if a peace deal could be hammered out between Iran and Israel. “Would you be happy with that? Wouldn’t it be nice?” he asked Netanyahu. “Because I think they want to. I think they’re tired.”

Trump said Iran is not restarting its nuclear program. “The last thing they want to do is start digging holes again in mountains that just got blown up. They want to survive, OK?”

Iran, which has called for Israel’s elimination and funded a network of terror groups that seek its destruction, has rejected the notion of normalizing its relations with Jerusalem.

The president received a hero’s welcome from both sides of a jubilant Knesset, addressing the house during a brief visit to Israel timed to coincide with Hamas’s release of the last living hostages held in Gaza, two years after the terror group invaded Israel, killed 1,200 people and abducted 251.

Trump was set to meet with some of the 20 newly freed hostages at the Sheba Medical Center, but ran out of time; he talked with families of hostages and previously freed hostages earlier at the Knesset.

Netanyahu’s full cabinet voted Friday in favor of a government resolution on Gaza that provides for all hostages to be freed in exchange for Palestinian security prisoners in accordance with the first phase of Trump’s broader Gaza peace plan. The US president was flying on to Egypt later in the day, for the international summit in Sharm el-Sheikh intended to endorse that wider vision.

“They might not be there by the time I get there, but we’ll give it a shot,” Trump joked, after needling Israeli leaders for talking so much before it was his turn at the podium.

There was a chance that Netanyahu would join him, with Trump having apparently brokered a call in which Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah invited him to attend. Egypt even announced Netanyahu’s attendance. However, Netanyahu’s office said later that he would not be going, because the summit was too close to Monday evening’s start of the Simchat Torah festival.

“This will be remembered as the moment that everything began to change,” the president told MKs. “It will be the golden age of Israel, and the golden age of the Middle East.”

Trump thanked the Arab and Muslim countries that pressured Hamas to free the hostages it was holding, calling it “an incredible triumph for Israel to have all these nations working together as partners in peace.”

“Now at least, not only for Israel, but also for Palestinians and many others, the long and painful nightmare is finally over,” he promised.

As the dust settles and debris is cleared in Gaza, he said, “the dawn breaks on a region transformed, and a beautiful and much brighter future appears suddenly within your reach. This is now a very exciting time for Israel.”

The president’s lengthy address included expressions of thanks to numerous people, but he focused especially on Netanyahu, hailing his patriotism, and declaring that “his partnership did so much to make this day possible.”

“He’s not easy, I wanna tell you,” said Trump. “He’s not the easiest guy to deal with. But that’s what makes him great.”

“Now you can be a little bit nicer because you’re not at war anymore, Bibi,” he said.

He praised Netanyahu for “having the courage” to end the war with Hamas. In fact, Netanyahu has not formally called an end to the war, but Trump has said repeatedly in the past few days — including in an answer to a question on his flight, and again to a reporter in the Knesset — that “the war is over.”

Israeli lawmakers chanted Trump’s name and gave him standing ovation after standing ovation. Some people in the audience wore red hats that resembled his “Make America Great Again” caps, although these versions said “Trump, The Peace President.”

Netanyahu hailed Trump as “the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House,” and he promised to work with him going forward.

“Mr President, you are committed to this peace. I am committed to this peace,” Netanyahu said. “And together, Mr. President, we will achieve this peace.”

Trump recalled how the war started on Simchat Torah, using the Hebrew name. Monday evening marks the start of that same festival, precisely two years after the Hamas slaughter.

Trump described that terrorist onslaught as “one of the most evil and heinous desecrations of innocent life the world has ever seen, and the worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust.”

He said Hamas’s cruelty in the October 7, 2023, attack “struck to the core of humanity itself.” America joins Israel in the vows “Never forget,” and “Never again,” he said.

He said that Israel has shouldered burdens during the war “that only a proud and faithful people could withstand.”

The Republican president also used the opportunity to settle political scores and thank his supporters, criticizing Democratic predecessors and praising a top donor, Miriam Adelson, in the audience.

In an unexpected detour from his prepared remarks, Trump called on the Israeli president to pardon Netanyahu, whom he described as “one of the greatest” wartime leaders. Netanyahu is on trial in three corruption charges, and denies any wrongdoing.

“I have an idea, why don’t you give Netanyahu a pardon?” Trump said, in comments directed at Herzog. He added, in a reference to the gifts Netanyahu allegedly received, “Who cares about cigars and champagne?”