Israel and Gaza prepare for release of hostages and prisoners | Gaza
Authorities in Israel and Gaza are preparing for the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian detainees ahead of a deadline set Monday for an exchange stipulated in a ceasefire agreement that could end the two-year war in Gaza.
Hamas will release all living hostages in Gaza within 72 hours of signing the agreement; This period will end at noon local time (10am UK time). The militant group has 48 hostages, 20 of whom are believed to be alive.
An international task force will work to find the remains of hostages who were not released on Monday, with many believed to be buried under rubble somewhere in the devastated Gaza Strip.
Israel will also release approximately 2,000 Palestinian detainees, the majority of whom will be sent to Gaza or deported to neighboring countries, but the timing of their release has not yet been determined.
US President Donald Trump will visit Jerusalem on Monday to address the Knesset and meet with the hostages’ families, around the same time as the hostage-prisoner exchange.
Trump will then fly to Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt, where he will co-chair a “peace summit” attended by leaders of more than 20 countries aimed at achieving a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
Although the road ahead for a deal is dark, Trump said he expects the ceasefire to continue. “They’re all tired of the fighting,” he told reporters at the White House, adding that there was a “consensus” on the way forward.
The hostage-prisoner exchange is the first step in Trump’s 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza. A ceasefire remains in effect as of Friday afternoon, but many of the details of the Trump plan must be negotiated before a permanent end to the war can be achieved.
Palestinians are desperate to see the ceasefire extend to a permanent end to the war, following a two-year Israeli campaign that has destroyed most of the strip, killing more than 67,000 Palestinians and wounding 170,000. Israel is accused of genocide in Gaza by the UN commission of inquiry and various human rights organizations.
Israel denies the genocide claim and says its conduct in the war, which was launched in retaliation for an attack by Hamas-led militants that killed nearly 1,200 people and took 251 hostage, constituted self-defense.
In Israel, preparations are continuing to receive the hostages, who will be taken to a military base and examined before being taken to hospitals that are conducting drills for evacuation preparations, by conducting drills with actors instead of the hostages.
“We are very excited, we are waiting for our son and the 48 hostages,” Hagai Angrest, whose son Matan is among the 20 hostages still held in Gaza, told Reuters.
On Sunday night, tens of thousands of people cheered in Tel Aviv’s ‘Hostages Square’ as US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff spoke alongside Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
“I dreamed about this night. It was a long journey,” Witkoff said. The crowd praised Trump, but booed Witkoff when he mentioned Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Families in the occupied West Bank also prepared to welcome their loved ones released from Israeli prisons. Israeli authorities instructed the families to remain silent during their celebrations and warned them to limit their interactions with the media.
With the release of the hostages, approximately 2,000 Palestinian detainees are also expected to be released. Approximately 1,700 were detained from Gaza, while 250 people, including Palestinian leaders, had been detained in Israel for a long time. About half of the 250 people will be sent to Gaza or neighboring countries, and the other half to the West Bank or East Jerusalem.
While preparations for the hostage exchange continue, humanitarian aid groups are also preparing to send aid to Gaza.
Cogat, the Israeli military agency that oversees humanitarian aid in Gaza, said about 600 trucks were expected to enter the strip every day starting Sunday. This would allow aid to return to pre-war levels, after aid to the region had been severely restricted for months.
The UN has said about 170,000 tonnes of food, medicine and other humanitarian aid are ready to enter Gaza if Israel allows entry. Tents, high-energy foods for malnourished children and menstrual hygiene materials were among the priority aid.
The resumption of aid comes after a months-long Israeli siege of Gaza that left famine in some areas, according to the world’s leading authority on food crises. At least 459 people have died of starvation in the last two years, and hunger has spread throughout the region since May.
Restoring regular aid is something the Trump plan mandates. The UN will once again coordinate aid to Gaza, which Israel has banned for months.
The role of the private Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is expected to replace the UN in aid distribution in Gaza, remains unclear. Following the ceasefire agreement, the foundation’s logistics facilities in Gaza stopped their activities.
GHF was widely viewed as a failure, with its distribution model marked by overcrowding and death. More than 1,000 people were shot dead by Israeli soldiers during the daily struggle for access to food in the GHF areas; aid groups said the chaos resulted from the foundation’s militarized procurement model. GHF has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
The United States will deploy up to 200 troops to Israel to help establish a task force to assist stabilization efforts in Gaza. No US troops will be stationed in Gaza, but the task force, known as the Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC), will be advised from within Israel.
Admiral Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, met Israeli military chief Eyal Zamir while traveling to Gaza with Witkoff and Kushner. Cooper said his visit served to establish the CMCC.
