Under the agreement, Israel was set to release nearly 2,000 Palestinian detainees and convicted prisoners from its jails later on Monday. The handover of 28 other Israeli hostages — including 26 dead and two whose fate remains unknown, is expected to follow. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was expected to transport the released hostages to Israeli security forces, who would take them into Israel to be reunited with their families and flown by helicopter to hospitals in central Israel.
An official involved in the operation told Reuters that the ICRC convoy had reached the first hostage collection point in Gaza. In Israel, crowds waving national flags gathered near Reim, a military base close to Gaza, where the hostages will arrive before being taken to hospitals.
Hundreds of people also gathered at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, waving Israeli flags and holding up posters of those still missing. Reuters footage showed about a dozen masked gunmen, apparently members of Hamas’ armed wing, assembling at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, one of the potential handover sites, alongside ambulances and rows of chairs set up in a sandy reception area.
The truce and exchange of hostages and prisoners follow two years of war that expanded into a regional confrontation involving Iran, Yemen, and Lebanon, deepening Israel’s isolation and reshaping Middle Eastern alliances.
“The war is over,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew from Washington to Israel on Sunday. Asked about the region’s future, he added: “I think it’s going to normalise.”
Trump is expected to receive a hero’s welcome when he addresses Israel’s parliament later on Monday. Israel’s President Isaac Herzog said Trump would be awarded the country’s highest civilian honour later this year.
Regional leaders are set to meet in Egypt later this week, though many details of the ceasefire’s implementation remain unclear.
