President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that both Israel and Hamas had "signed off" on the first phase of a peace plan in Gaza following negotiations in the Egyptian Red Sea city of Sharm el-Sheikh. A ceasefire then came into effect on Friday.
Phase one of the deal will see all remaining hostages returned from Gaza, a number of Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli jails and the partial withdrawal of the Israel Defense Forces inside the strip.
The Israel Defense Forces is preparing for the transfer and return of the hostages as part of the implementation of the ceasefire agreement in the coming morning hours, a security official told ABC News.
Red Cross vehicles were seen in Khan Younis and are expected to pick up Palestinian prisoners that the Israelis will release Monday morning.
Hamas published a list of the 20 living Israeli hostages set to be released around 7 a.m. local time, Monday morning.
The names are:
In his nationally televised address Sunday night, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said he and his wife "met many times with the families of the kidnapped. We saw their pain, their longing, their tears."
"These meetings accompanied me in every decision I made during the war," Netanyahu said. "We hugged the families, and I promised them: 'I will not rest until I bring back your loved ones.'"
"Tomorrow is the beginning of a new path," Netanyahu added, in part. "A path of construction, a path of healing and, I hope, a path of uniting hearts.
The group representing families of those held by Hamas since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks said they are receiving the news of the agreement "with excitement, anticipation and apprehension."
The Families' Headquarters for the Return of the Abductees said there are 48 hostages still held by Hamas, and 20 of them are still believed to be alive.
"The Families' Headquarters welcomes the signing of the agreement designed to return all abductees home - the living for rehabilitation among their families and the fallen for a proper burial in their country," the statement said. "This is important and significant progress on the path to returning all of them, but our struggle is not over and will not end until the last abductee returns."
The statement called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to "convene and approve the agreement immediately. Any delay could exact a heavy price from the abductees and the soldiers. We are convinced that the Prime Minister will ensure an absolute majority for the implementation of the agreement reached."
The group expressed "deep gratitude" to President Donald Trump "for the leadership and determination that led to a historic breakthrough: an end to the war and a comprehensive agreement to return all abductees."
