Israeli hostages freed, Iran hit, ceasefire held - 2025 shattered the idea the US was exiting the Middle East

All remaining living hostages in Gaza released under Trump peace deal Fox News' Greg Palkot and Benjamin Hall join 'The Story with Martha MacCallum' to discuss the release of all living Israeli hostages under President Donald Trump's peace deal and the precedent it could set overseas moving forward. For years, Washington has spoken about reducing its Middle East footprint, yet analysts told Fox News Digital that 2025 proved the opposite: American force - not retreat - reshaped the region. Blaise Misztal, vice president for policy at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), said the past year confirmed a long-standing strategic lesson. "2025 underscored what Middle East watchers have long known, and U.S. policymakers never seemed to want to admit: that strength is the currency of the realm and there is no substitute for U.S. leadership," he said. Israeli political analyst Nadav Eyal said the shift was unmistakable. "What we have seen in 2025 is an increased role of the United States, rather than a withdrawal," Eyal said. "It delivered a hostage deal and a ceasefire in Gaza. It brought a certain level of stability in Syria. We see increased cooperation with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE." "The idea that the U.S. is out of the Middle East is just out the window," he added. WHITE HOUSE TURNS TO EXPANDING ABRAHAM ACCORDS AFTER ISRAEL-HAMAS CEASEFIRE U.S. President Donald Trump poses with the signed agreement at a world leaders' summit on ending the Gaza war, amid a U.S.-brokered prisoner-hostage swap and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, October 13, 2025. REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett/Pool (Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters ) Gaza: The ceasefire and the hostages During 2025, the Trump administration brokered a ceasefire that ended the two-year war in Gaza and returned all Israeli hostages except for the body of Ran Gvili, which still remains in Hamas's hands. The deal was initially met with deep skepticism inside Israel. President Trump traveled to both Israel - where he addressed the Knesset and Cairo to finalize the agreement, coordinating with Arab leaders and mediators in a complex process that included an exchange of Palestinian terrorists held in Israeli prisons for hostages. "There is absolutely no doubt that without President Trump’s intervention, this could have lasted much longer, or maybe not have ended at all, or ended in tragedy," Eyal said, adding that the administration fundamentally changed what had been considered possible. "He expanded the realm of possibilities," Eyal said. "If someone had told us six months earlier that this would be the framework of the deal, and that all the living hostages would be back home within 72 hours, we would have said it’s a great idea, but Hamas would never agree." Israeli hostages released in the Trump-brokered ceasefire deal met with U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. (The Hostages and Missing Families Forum) According to Eyal, the breakthrough came from Israeli military pressure combined with U.S. insistence and regional coordination. "The military pressure put by Israel, enabled...

Preview: ~500 words