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Israel said Sunday that hostages held in Gaza are expected to be released early Monday under a ceasefire agreement with Hamas, with Palestinian detainees to be freed once the hostages are safely returned.
Israel "is ready to receive hostages if they are released earlier," said Shosh Bedrosian, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office.
Bedrosian said during an online press conference that they expect Israeli hostages to be released on Monday (Oct. 13) morning. She said confirmation will be awaited after Israeli hostages, both living and deceased, are released and cross the border, and then the process of releasing Palestinian prisoners will begin.
Israeli state television KAN reported that it is known that not all deceased Israeli hostages can be delivered.
Red Cross vehicles that will receive Israeli hostages were shown moving toward the southern Gaza border.
Under the ceasefire deal, 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, including 250 serving life sentences and 1,700 others detained in Gaza since October 2023, will be released in exchange for 48 Israeli hostages, including 20 alive.
Bedrosian added that Israel will free Palestinian detainees once the hostages are safely returned from Gaza.
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According to reports in Israeli media, the Tel Aviv administration continues to make changes to the names of prisoners to be released under the agreement.
One Palestinian prisoner scheduled to be released was removed from the list yesterday after allegedly attacking a guard at Ketziot Prison in southern Israel, according to reports. This was carried out under pressure from Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and the release was stopped while the Palestinian prisoner was expected to be allowed to enter the occupied West Bank.
Ben-Gvir objected to the release of several Palestinians in addition to the prisoner in question, according to reports.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday (October 8) that Israel and Hamas had agreed to the first phase of a 20-point plan he laid out on September 29 to bring a ceasefire to Gaza, release all Israeli captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, and a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the entire Gaza Strip.
The first phase of the deal took effect on Friday (Oct. 10).
A second phase of the plan calls for the establishment of a new governing mechanism in Gaza without Hamas' participation, the deployment of a multinational force and the disarmament of Hamas.
Since October 2023, Israeli attacks have killed over 67,600 Palestinians in the enclave, most of them women and children, and rendered it uninhabitable.
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