Twenty Israeli hostages are set to be released on Monday morning after more than two years in captivity, while nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners are also expected to be freed
Twenty Israeli hostages were headed for freedom on Sunday after being held captive for more than two years – as close to 2,000 Palestinians prisoners were also being prepared for their release.
Starving, wounded and desperately distraught the hostages were being gathered inside Gaza throughout the day by their Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad captors for a mass release within hours.
Many may be unable to walk, terribly dehydrated, or will be held up so they can make the journey to freedom as tearful loved ones waited nervously for them just over the border.
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The operation inside Gaza to collect all 20 was being done in recent days as both terror groups tried to disguise where they had been held.
On Sunday it was expected by Israeli sources that hostages would be handed over early on Monday morning, although officials said they were prepared to receive them hours sooner.
Captives seized in the October 7 massacre in southern Israel, which sparked the brutal two-year Gaza, were being gathered for a dramatic handover to officials from the Red Cross.
The process to secure their release was underway on Sunday evening as a major security and medical operation inside and over the border was launched by Israel.
Even as the hostage releases were expected to get underway US President Donald Trump was flying to Israel to take credit for their freedom, from where he will travel to Egypt for a Middle East summit.
Israeli special forces were put on standby to storm the area amid fears Palestinian crowds could mob hostages before they are handed over to the Red Cross.
Sources say Hamas has been warned if the hostages are mobbed the IDF will launch strikes against the crowd and deploy ground troops.
It is possible the hostages, though by agreement they are to be released at the same time, will be handed over in different locations. Sources said three locations for the hand-overs may be used.
Once gathered inside an Israeli-controlled area of Gaza, hostages were to be handed over to the Israeli Defence Force before being taken in eight vehicles to Re’im Base, southern Israel.
Six to eight vehicles have been arranged to drive them to Re’im, and as soon as they cross into Israeli territory coaches carrying Palestinian prisoners in Israel will start their engines.
The Palestinian prisoners were to be pre-loaded on a large number of coaches, the vast majority of whom will be sent to Gaza or exiled to neighbouring countries. The timing of the Palestinian prisoner handover and travel to other countries has not yet been specified.
Israeli loved ones were to be waiting for the hostages at Re’im base, from where the plan was that they will meet medical teams who can tend to them immediately if they have urgent need of treatment.
After 734 days of horrific captivity, surviving bombings, torture and starvation the 20 would travel by helicopter to three hospitals for check-ups and some for emergency treatment.
The main hostage hospitals will be the Sheba, outside Tel Aviv, the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Centre and the Beilinson Medical Center in Petah Tikva.
Medical teams have been on standby for many hours to receive the hostages. Urgent medical treatment, if needed, will mean hostages will be rushed to Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheba or Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon, closer to Gaza.
Special rooms for hostages have been prepared, with a single bed as well as the patient’s bed supplied so a loved one can sleep nearby if the patient wants them there.
Some time after their release up to 28 bodies of dead hostages were to be handed over to the Red Cross in coffins and handed over to the IDF troops in Israeli-controlled Gaza.
Troops plan to drape Israeli flags over the wooden coffins and a brief Jewish ceremony and prayer was planned for the deceased before being handed over to specialists.
The National Center of Forensic Medicine – Abu Kabir – is completing preparations to receive the bodies of the fallen hostages, as it has in previous cases, where it will confirm their identities.
This grim task will include also finding out on how they died, what happened to them before their lives were ended and how their bodies were stored.
From midday on Monday – the deadline for all hostages living and dead to be handed over – an official search for those still missing will launch.
Sources have revealed among the 28 bodies there may be as many as 15 missing as Hamas and Palestinian Jihad have either lost them or they were blown up in the war.
Agonisingly for loved ones it may take weeks or months to locate the bodies of missing Israeli hostages within the ruins of Gaza, it has emerged.
A special task force has been set up to search for the missing dead.
The body search unit is made up of Israeli, American, Egyptian, Turkish, and Qatari representatives working alongside the Red Cross, providing manpower, funding, and intelligence to help complete the grisly mission.
Back to the dusty hellscape…
Meanwhile Palestinians relieved over the war ending are returning to homes and memories that have “turned to dust,” many said.
Grief-stricken but relieved they are returning to shattered and destroyed homes – thousands to Northern Gaza, which is a dusty hellscape and More than 500,000 to Gaza City by Saturday evening.
Local woman Raja Salmi, 52, said: “We walked for hours, and every step was filled with fear and anxiety for my home.”
Upon reaching her al-Rimal neighbourhood her house was destroyed. She said reportedly: “I stood before it and cried. All those memories are now just dust.”
Dozens of aid trucks have begun entering Gaza on Sunday morning, with images showing queues of lorries at the Rafah crossing with Egypt. Aid has begun flooding into Gaza, as part of the peace agreement, with trucks brimming with supplies entering the ruined strip.
Israel on Sunday rejected a UK claim it played a “key role” in securing the Gaza ceasefire as Sir Keir Starmer prepared to join a Middle East peace summit.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s deputy foreign minister Sharren Haskel said she would “have to contradict” the assertion that Britain had been a leading player “behind the scenes.”
Earlier on Sunday, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson defended the UK’s efforts towards ending the war in Gaza, where a fragile truce is holding. She said: “We have played a key role behind the scenes in shaping this.
“These are complex matters of diplomacy that we are involved in but we do welcome and recognise the critical role that the American government played in getting us to this point.”
On Sunday afternoon, Ms Haskel criticised the decision to recognise Palestinian statehood and accused Britain of diminishing the prospect of peace by emboldening Hamas.
She said: “The Government of the UK, Macron’s plan, the whole conversation about declaring a Palestinian state – we disagree with you.”
Asked about Ms Phillipson’s characterisation of the UK’s efforts, the minister said: “Well, I have to contradict her words, unfortunately. Unfortunately, with the declaration of the Palestinian state during a very sensitive time two months ago when the teams were already around the table negotiating, when we truly believe we are able to reach a deal; the message that the UK Government sent Hamas was the message that: the longer they continue this war, they will be rewarded.”
The UK joined countries including France, Australia and Canada last month in confirming recognition of Palestinian statehood. Sir Keir Starmer will attend the “signing ceremony” for the Gaza peace plan in Sharm El Sheikh on Monday, where he is expected to heap praise on Mr Trump.
He will pay “particular tribute” to the US leader and partners in the region for “bringing us to this point” before calling for “swift progress towards phase two”, Downing Street said.
The 20-point plan brokered by the US president calls for Israel to maintain an open-ended military presence inside Gaza, along its border with Israel. An international force, comprised largely of troops from Arab and Muslim countries, will be responsible for security inside the enclave.
The Israeli military has said it will continue to operate defensively from the roughly 50% of Gaza it still controls after pulling back to agreed-upon lines.
Former UK Labour prime minister Sir Tony Blair is poised to be involved in a “Board of Peace” supervising governance in Gaza. About 200 US troops have arrived in Israel, where they are expected to set up a centre to facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid and provide security assistance.
The Gaza war was triggered when Hamas-led militants launched a surprise attack on Israel on October 7 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage.
In Israel’s ensuing offensive, more than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and nearly 170,000 wounded, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry.
The United Nations and many independent experts consider the ministry’s figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.