Trump wins some praise from Democrats for Gaza hostage release deal

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on Oct 13, 2025

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President Donald Trump on Monday won some rare bipartisan praise for forging the Israeli hostage release and Gaza ceasefire deal although most senior Democrats avoided crediting him by name.

As most top Democrats stuck to cheering the release of the hostages and the ceasefire, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., broke ranks with his party to explicitly hail Trump for brokering the deal.

“Credit to @POTUS for a breakthrough ceasefire of this awful war,” tweeted Fetterman, a strong supporter of Israel and a moderate maverick who often bucks his party’s leaders.

Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., one of the staunchest supporters of Israel in Congress, mentioned Trump in his statement cheering the deal.

“Today is the result of great American leadership, led by President Trump and his team, and also the tireless efforts of the Biden administration,” Gottheimer said.

Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee said he “absolutely” gives credit to Trump for winning the historic breakthrough.

“This is an incredible accomplishment, an incredible moment,” Smith said on CNN.

None of the four recent Democratic presidents or presidential nominees immediately released statements on the deal Monday morning.

Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, both of whom are strong supporters of Israel, likewise maintained their silence.

The congressional leaders remained locked in a bitter political battle with the White House over the ongoing government shutdown.

A beaming Trump basked in the glow of adoring praise from Israelis as the 20 living Israeli hostages were released to widespread celebrations.

Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners were also greeted by cheering crowds in the West Bank and Gaza, where Israeli troops withdrew from populated areas and stopped airstrikes on the devastated enclave.

After delivering a triumphant speech to the Israeli parliament, Trump flew to Egypt to preside over a summit meeting of Western and Arab allies who hope to make progress implementing his 20-point peace deal between Israel and Hamas.

Trump’s lead Middle East negotiator, Steve Witkoff, predicted a long and tricky road to fully implementing Trump’s peace deal, which aims to end the war permanently and rebuild Gaza under the oversight of an international security force.

“We’re dug in,” said Witkoff, as Trump met with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi in Sharm el-Sheikh. “We’ll be here quite a bit. That’s at the direction of (Trump).”

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