by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent
GAZA/JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – Hamas says the release of the remaining Israeli hostages will begin on Monday morning. “According to a written deal, the exchange of prisoners will start on Monday morning, as agreed,” confirmed Hamas official Osama Hamdan.
U.S. President Donald J. Trump, who is due to arrive in Israel late Sunday or early Monday, had already indicated he expected the hostages to be freed starting Monday morning.
Under the terms of the agreement with Israel, Hamas has until 12:00 p.m. Israel time Monday to complete the handover of 48 hostages, of whom 20 are believed to be alive, according to Israeli officials.
In exchange, Israel will release around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, according to sources familiar with the talks.
The hostage issue stems from the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel, when the group killed about 1,200 people and abducted 251 hostages, according to Israeli authorities.
Since then, several hostage releases have taken place under temporary truces, but 48 remain unaccounted for, including both living and deceased captives.
HAMAS REJECTS DISARMAMENT
The exchanges are part of a peace deal reached earlier this week between Israel and Hamas, building on Trump’s 20-point plan. Under the accord, the Israeli army will also withdraw from Gaza.
However, Hamas vowed not to disarm, despite requirements in the peace plan drafted by President Trump. “Disarmament is out of the question and non-negotiable,” a Hamas representative said Saturday.
Ahead of the expected prisoner exchanges, U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner visited the Gaza Strip on Saturday under Israeli army escort, according to footage released by the Israel Defense Forces.
The commander of CENTCOM, the U.S. military’s Middle East command, also joined the visit.
Later that day, Witkoff and Kushner met with families of Israeli hostages in Tel Aviv, offering reassurances that “every effort is being made” to bring their loved ones home.
Separately, the White House confirmed that President Trump will address Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, in Jerusalem in the coming days, following an invitation from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
TRUMP TO ADDRESS KNESSET
Trump is expected to outline the next steps in the peace process and call on both Israelis and Palestinians to “turn a historic page toward peace and security.”
Israeli officials said the address could take place as early as Tuesday afternoon, depending on the implementation of the ceasefire and hostage release deal.
With the prospect of peace drawing near, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres will attend Monday’s summit in Egypt, where the future of Gaza will be discussed, officials said. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will also be present, his office confirmed.
The high-profile meeting, held in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh, will be chaired by President Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
The Élysée Palace, the office of French President Emmanuel Macron, confirmed that Macron will also travel to Egypt on Monday.
Starmer’s office said the peace agreement will be ceremonially signed during the summit, although a Hamas representative said the group would not attend the event.
END OF WAR?
“We are not involved in the official signing,” the Hamas spokesman said, noting that the ceasefire talks were conducted mainly through Egyptian and Qatari mediators.
Yet the ceasefire talks are aimed at ending the war sparked by the Hamas massacre and giving hope to a more peaceful future for the Middle East.
The more than two-year war has killed some 67,000 Palestinians, according to Hamas-linked authorities.
However, those figures have been difficult to verify independently, and the Hamas-run Health Ministry does not differentiate between combatants and civilians.
Israel claims to have killed tens of thousands of fighters of Hamas, which it designated as a terrorist organization.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
Russian authorities say at least 13 people were killed and 39 others wounded Monday in Ukrainian drone attacks on an industrial city about 900 kilometers, or 600 miles, east of Moscow. The latest strikes signaled a further escalation of Ukraine’s campaign of air attacks deep inside Russia.
A powerful magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck western Colombia Monday, collapsing buildings, trapping residents beneath rubble, disrupting airports and sending tremors across much of the country and into neighboring Venezuela.
Archaeologists in modern-day Turkey have uncovered remains of an ancient church believed to be connected to the historic site where the First Council of Nicaea was held in A.D. 325, drawing fresh attention to one of the most consequential turning points in the history of Christianity.
President Donald Trump’s sweeping “Make D.C. Safe Again” law-enforcement campaign is approaching its first anniversary with more than 16,000 arrests, as the administration says its unprecedented federal-local partnership is changing the security landscape of the nation’s capital.
President Donald Trump appears prepared to let Iran’s worsening economic crisis intensify rather than immediately launch another major military offensive, as the Islamic Republic struggles with a collapsing currency, soaring inflation, disrupted trade and growing pressure from a U.S. naval blockade.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday formally launched a national artificial intelligence initiative aimed at making Israel one of the world’s leading AI powers, declaring that the Jewish state intends to help shape the technological future rather than merely respond to it.
Overnight drone and missile strikes killed at least eight people and injured dozens more in Ukraine and Russia on Sunday as both sides stepped up strikes in the more than four-year-long war.