Australia has hailed US President Donald Trump’s “incredible achievement” in ending Israel’s war on Gaza and securing the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas.

The surviving 20 hostage captured in Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks were released first to the Red Cross and then to the Israeli military.

Video footage shows the prisoners hugging their families and celebrating their freedom after two years of captivity.

Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles said it was a “wonderful day” after an “appalling tragedy”.

“It is an incredible achievement on the part of Donald Trump and it is one that is very much going to be remembered by history,” he told Sky News on Tuesday.

Almost 2000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees have also been freed by Israel.

There was one sticking point when Hamas announced that the bodies of only four dead hostages would be returned, in breach of its commitments to hand over the remains of all the Israelis it took captive.

Despite the hiccup, the return of the living hostages has been celebrated halfway across the world, with Jewish Australians optimistic it can lead to long-term peace.

Melbourne’s Jewish community packed into the Beth Weizmann Jewish Community Centre in Caulfield to sing, dance and watch a live stream of the scenes in Israel.

The crowd of about 1000 cheered as Air Force One touched down at Ben Gurion Airport carrying Mr Trump, who addressed the Knesset after helping to broker the ceasefire.

Eda Klapisch, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, said her sense of relief was tinged with “terrible sadness” because of the damage done to Israeli and Palestinian society.

“No one wanted this,” she told AAP.

“No one wanted to be held for 738 days, nobody wanted to be bombed to smithereens.

“If we can find peace, the people of Israel will be the first ones in line to sign.”

Israel launched a two-year military offensive on Gaza that killed more than 67,000 people including about 20,000 children, according to Palestinian health authorities.

The campaign was in response to Hamas’s surprise attack, which killed about 1200 people and led to the capture of another 250 hostages, according to Israeli officials.

Ms Klapisch, who was born in Sydney but has lived in Melbourne for about half a century, said she had visited hostage square in Tel Aviv and described the emotion as extraordinary.

“I’m not the biggest fan of Donald Trump but I’m grateful for what he’s done for us,” she said.

“Thank God he had the ability to do that end step.”

Malka Lawrence said the moment was a “huge relief” mixed with “disbelief” at the inaction from local and international politicians over the past two years.

“They could have stopped all this,” she said, noting not all hostages were being returned alive.

“So there’s enormous gratitude … but there’s still shock horror that we had to go through those two years.”

However, the Melburnian was confident the Jewish community across the globe could let bygones be bygones.

“They’re wonderful at forgiving and forgetting,” Ms Lawrence said.

“Look at our relationship with Germany. We move on and we’re such amazingly resilient people.”

Source: AAP